UFC 249
Prelims.
Since the cancellation of sporting events indefinitely, sports fans around the globe have been waiting impatiently for a night like last night. A great escape from what has become a necessary reality for all of us. Quarantine, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sheltering ourselves at home. Binging our way through Netflix and Hulu.
I don’t know about you all, but professional tag and marble racing is not cutting it. Thanks for your efforts ESPN the ocho.
Queue everyone’s favorite Uncle! Uncle Dana, fearlessly announcing UFC 249. The most stacked card we’ve seen in quite sometime. Big names, and heavy hitters.
Kicking off the prelims was suppose to be two very heavy hitters. Jacare Souza and Uriah Hall. Unfortunately Jacare tested positive for Covid-19. Thoughts and prayers with him and his family.
Stepping up to take their place a rematch between Niko Price and Vincente Luque. These two men had big shoes to fill. They did not disappoint.
Niko the aggressor and Luque the more polished of the two, waste very little time getting after it. Vincente at the end of round 1 rocks price for his troubles and sends him back to his corner on ice skates.
Round 2 Price is having more success in their exchanges. It’s looking like he may take the round and tie it up 1 round a piece. Luque clips Price dropping him. As Niko returns to his feet fairly quickly, the two exchange on the fence before the end of round two. Cut under Nikos eye, he remains unfazed and marches out for war in round 3. Still applying pressure like only “The Hybrid” can. Niko is doing great pouring it on, trying to take back the fight by any means. Mixing up his strikes very well before getting clipped yet again. A well timed left hook sits Price down. Luque swarms for the finish, Price recovers well and gets back to his feet. His eye is swollen shut. Looking worse than Rocky end of round 14 against Apollo Creed. “I can’t see nothing. You gotta open my eye, cut me Mick.” The only quote that rang through my head when the ringside physician stepped in the ring and waved off the fight. Winner Vincente Luque referee stoppage.
Fight 2 Michelle Waterson v Carla Esparza. I had high expectations for this fight, but it underdelivered. Both women playing it safe feinting from a dramatic distance rarely entering to risk it all. Disappointing to say the least, but I don’t see either of these women making a title run anytime soon. Especially after that snooze fest. Winner Carla Esparza split decision.
Fight 3 prelims welcomes back the legend Fabricio Werdum taking on Aleksei Oleinik. Two years out of the game we were wondering what version of Werdum we were about to see. Would it be run across the ring flying side kick to the face of Travis Browne Werdum, or would ring rust take its toll on yet another legend.
Round 1 looked like ring rust Werdum was our answer. Aleksei hit Werdum with heavy hands in high numbers. Every combination landing flush. With no audience in attendance, you could literally hear every punch bouncing off Werdums head. Somehow he weathers the storm and survives the round.
Round 2 Aleksei seems to be feeling the fatigue of trying to close the show early. Werdum working some great knees from the clinch, and a decent guillotine attempt eventually drags the fight down to the ground in an attempt to pick up the submission victory. Having no such luck, Oleinik gets back to his feet letting a few more haymakers go before the end of round 2. At this point I personally had it 1 round a piece. Round 3 Werdum again gets the fight to the ground, working on Alekseis arm. Working from kimora, to straight arm lock, to arm bar, seamlessly flowing from one attempt to the next. Aleksei defends, makes it back to the feet yet again and closes the third out with some more heavy hands. Great close fight from these two I had it 29-28 Werdum but in a split decision the judges went the other way. Hats off to these two for getting the show back on track.
In yet another rematch, to close out the prelims we were gifted Cerrone v Pettis 2. Coming off a lackluster performance, and all around mauling by Conor McGregor in Cerrones last fight. Along with the TKO victory “Showtime” already had in the the books against Cowboy. This rivalry turned friendship was destined to be great.
Cowboy marched forward as the aggressor, Anthony playing marksman looking for the counter strike. After a big head kick, Cerrone catches the leg, securing a takedown. A few burst from his back and Anthony makes it back to his feet closing the round out with a big right hand to Cowboys face.
Round 2 Pettis gets lose and starts to feel it. He’s landing almost all the shots he throws at cowboy while maintaining his distance well. Cowboy secures the leg and completes another takedown, this time with Anthony’s back against the fence. Jockeying first position “Showtime” utilizes the fence to make it back to his feet.
3rd round is back and fourth the 2 warriors matching one another blow for blow. Anthony gets away with an eye poke followed by a good combination, Cerrone clearly irritated throws caution to the wind and fires back landing a head kick that should’ve sent “Showtimes” head into orbit. Until the final bell sounds the two are toe to toe letting leather fly, giving us the fans a taste of what’s to come on the main card.
Result, unanimous decision 29-28 for Anthony Pettis.
UFC 249
Cejudo “retired”, Tony gets a taste of his own medicine, Ngannou killed a guy and all of it took place in an empty arena.
In the opener for the main card we had Greg Hardy vs Yogan De Castro, two absolute studs with the ability to turn the lights out with one blow. In the opening seconds of the fight, Hardy was looking to establish his outside leg kick while Yorgan greeted him with bombs. Getting his head snapped back ferociously, Greg quickly realized sheer athleticism wasn’t going to be enough to edge out the shorter opponent. As Hardy continued pressing forward De Castro was waiting and ready with a big counter punch, or a hefty leg kick. Although bruising was setting in on Hardy’s leg, he wore it well. Greg eventually broke through, letting shots fly for the last minute and thirty seconds of round 1.
At the beginning of round 2 De Castro went back to the well with leg kicks; unfortunately for him Hardy had timed one with a check. De Castros toes collided with Hardy’s knee, this clearly hurt him, and made him hesitant. After the fight, Greg claimed that he had heard Daniel Cormier on commentary saying that he needed to check those kicks. Hardy picked him apart through the next two rounds of action, pop shotting De Castro with jabs, crosses, and leg kicks. The final call was 30-27 on all three judges score cards, in favor of Greg Hardy.
The second fight of the main card card was Jeremy Stephens, vs Calvin Kattar. In my opinion, there was no chance in Hell this fight was going the distance. Stephens, who had missed weight by 5 pounds, was looking great in round one. He chopped away at Kattars legs, and let bombs go when he threw he hands. “Little Heathen” was looking to shut the lights off with every blow. Kattar answered back with some long stiff shots of his own before the close of round one; as if to say, “Im still right here.”
As round 2 kicked off, roles reversed and now Kattar was going to work on Jeremy’s leg. It seemed as though they came to a mutual understanding that trading leg kicks sucks, and they would be better off exchanging hands instead. With this non verbal agreement in place, Kattar began to light Jeremy up with fantastic boxing combinations. After shaking off some blows. Jeremy looked for that big right hand; Calvin timed it to perfection parried the punch and slipped outside while meeting Stephens with a right elbow of his own. Jeremy dropped like a bad habit, Kattar jumped on top of him and sliced his head open with a vicious left elbow. The referee had seen enough, and stepped in to stop the bout.
The winner: Calvin Kattar by way of knock out.
It was time for the third bout of the evening, a fight I’m sure we all had high expectation of providing a highlight reel finish. Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The walk outs took longer than this fight.
As soon as the first round began, the two beast met right in the center of the octagon. Rozenstruik got off two leg kicks before Francis basically said “fuck this.” Ngannou seemingly tapped into his inner Deontay Wilder, and proceeded to throw windmill haymakers; as he marched forward, with no regard for his opponent. Missing the first two blows the third connected, a vicious left hook, and it was lights out. As Jairzinho’s body went limp and he fell to his ass, back still supported by the cage, Ngannou landed a few more unnecessary shots. The referee dove in to save Rozenstruik’s life. 18 seconds into the first, Francis was declared the winner. This should mean Francis has reentered the title picture. It will be interesting to see if the UFC forces Stipes hand in his trilogy bout against DC, or if they strip him allowing DC and Ngannou slug it out for the vacated title. Both sound like great options for the fans.
It was time for the co main event, and I was torn, but I had already gone on record saying Cejudo would get it done. In the middle of gloating to my friends via text about my correct prediction, The Cringe King shocked the world, retiring after his second round stoppage over Dominick Cruz.
Since being out of action since 2016 I would be lying if I said it looked like Dom Cruz had any ring rust. As he was being announced, he gave us a glimpse of the infamous footwork. My wife looked at me and said “His feet are so fast.” I’m sure this was a point of concern for Henry as well, as he attacked Dominick’s legs from jump street. Henry controlled the distance well, and did not bite on Dominicks feints. The two clinched briefly, Dominick landed a decent knee that Henry secured, scooping Dominick up slamming him to the mat. Dominick scrambled and got back to his feet very quickly. Dominick couldn’t seem to settle into a rhythm verse the champ and round 1 came to a close. 10-9 Cejudo.
Dominick began to apply more pressure at the start of round two, ducking his head and swinging for the fences at times; Dominick started to find success, however Cejudo still held his own in the exchanges of leather as the pace picked up. Both men ducking their heads simultaneously led to an accidental head butt that cut Henry on the hairline. Blood poured down Henry’s face as with 30 seconds left on the clock Cejudo marched back towards Cruz. Ducking and swinging for the fences one too many times Henry clipped Dom with a huge knee that dropped the former King of bantom weights on his ass. Cejudo jumped on top of Dom landing 11 unanswered shots to the head before the referee stepped in with little to no time left on the clock. Cruz immediately hopped to his feet to berate the referee for a bad stoppage. Afterwards Cruz made claims the ref “reeked of cigarettes and alcohol” really downplaying his decision to stop the bout. I’m a huge Dominick fan, I even teach some of his footwork drills to my own private clients but even still from my seat, I thought the stoppage was fine. Sure he was on all fours, but Henry was teeing off and it didn’t seem like the most intelligent defense.
With the fight concluded, gold medal around Cejudos neck, UFC belt strapped securely around his waist, “Triple C” took to the microphone. After thanking Dana and UFC staff Henry says “I’m happy with my career Joe, I’ve done enough in the sport, I want to walk away. I want to enjoy myself, I’m 33 years old. I have a girl now who’s watching back home, I eventually want to start a family. Since I was 11 years old I sacrificed to get where I’m at today. I’m not going to let anybody take that from me, so I’m retiring tonight Joe!” “Triple Cs out.”
While I do believe he will step away for a while, I don’t believe this is the last we will see of Henry Cejudo. This could be a page out of GSP book, retire then comeback for the super fight when they add a “0” to that paycheck. I guess only time will tell. Until then; tip of the cap, and all respect to the “King Of Cringe”- way to leave on top.
With the close of that co-main event and that completely unexpected retirement, Tony and Justin were going to have their work cut out for them if they intended to steal the show. Something told me they were going to be up for the task. Maybe it was Dana exclaiming that he guaranteed it was going to be a fantastic fight. Maybe it was already having the knowledge that Justin Gaethje had received 7 fight bonuses in 6 fights. Or Maybe it was the fact I have never seen either of these men not in a all out war that absolutely over delivers. To the critics constantly coming after Justin Gaethje for being reckless in his fights, not calculated, with a lack of defensive head motion- kindly shut the fuck up.
From bell to whistle he put on a absolute master class of striking and defense. Landing an incredible 143 out of 197 significant strikes (75%) 30 out of 30 leg kicks. While making Tony miss 65% of the significant strikes he threw at Justin.
Every single shot Justin threw, was thrown with awful intentions, so much so that his corner man pleaded for him to take off 10% in round 3. To Tony’s credit the nickname boogey man had never seemed more fitting as he was split open and lumped up much like he did his past opponents, and still marching forward with a smile on his face. By the championship rounds I could’ve sworn the deep water was going to catch up to Justin and he would try to coast and survive 4 to see 5. I was wrong, he continued to land tight compact bombs at will even while breathing heavily. By round 5 Tony’s legs were mangled and his face was pulverized. A few minutes in and 30 shots later, another bomb staggers Tony, now struggling to catch himself on legs that were absolutely beaten to shit. Herb Dean stepped in, and Tony complained; wanting instead to go out on his shield.
I thought It was a great stoppage, and greater performance, moving “The Highlight” to 9 fight bonuses on 7 fights. As Justin said in his post fight press conference “Nobodies fucking with that.” Even Khabib chimed in on twitter immediately following the bout stating it was “so impressive.” Seems as though all signs are pointing towards Gaethje/Nurmagomedov for the unification now. As the final decision is being made and Dana goes to put the title on Justin he immediately takes the belt off, stating he’s waiting for the real one. Daniel Cormier, ringside announcer for last night events alludes to seeing Khabibs toughest opponent ever in Justin Gaethje.
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I’m so stoked to see those two clash when the time comes.
What a great night of fights, and hats off to Dana for pulling it off. From getting all the fighters tested, keeping everyone as safe as possible, to bringing back a live sporting event we could all thoroughly enjoy.
While some will complain it’s not the same without fans, I will counter argue we may have gotten to see the best version of our fighters last night. Clear minds, able to hear their coaches and not get reckless over the cheers or boos of the crowd. Of course I want us all to be able to attend again, but this was still absolutely fantastic.
To The Rack With Mac 