UFC 249 will take place at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville on May 9, according to Dana White. Besides this event, White announced two more shortly after this one.
“I can’t wait to deliver some great fights for the fans,” UFC president said in a statement.
It seems that this time there won’t be any problems with the organization because Florida’s authorities are behind this spectacle 100%. White had a bitter experience once trying to set up UFC 249 in California, at Tachi-Yokut tribal land, when higher powers intervened and prevented it from happening. Governor Gavin Newson pressured Disney Company, and ESPN to use their influence and cancel the event, which eventually happened.
However, in this situation, it seems that the state of Florida won’t make any problems for the UFC. Furthermore, the Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry, is thrilled to have such an event in his city.
“We are thrilled to have our city highlighted nationally on ESPN and ESPN+. With Jacksonville continuing to outpace other cities and regions, we are excited to continue to lead as host to these world-class international sports entertainment organizations.”
The main event of the night will still be Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title. Although many believed that these two might drop out from all the combination, it didn’t end like that. Apparently, both had information about White’s plans, and they didn’t stop with training. The same applies to all other fighters who are going to participate in this event. And there will be some pretty sounding fights.
Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz will clash in a bantamweight title fight, with Cejudo having his first belt defense. That is going to be his first fight since June 2019, and a win over Marlon Moraes, when he became the ruler of this division.
Heavyweight title eliminator between Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik is also creating a lot of hype around the internet. The battle of two powerful strikers who are able to knock out anyone on the planet with just one hit promises a lot of action. Rozenstruik is the without a single defeat so far, and his latest fight where he tore the Alistair Overeem’s lip and sent the veteran to the la-la land launched him in orbit.
As for Ngannou, the Predator is demanding a second chance against Miocic for a long time, and now he has the best opportunity to get it.
Notable statements from Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry and Florida State Boxing Commission Executive Director, Patrick Cunningham on the UFC holding multiple events there in May. pic.twitter.com/Z553wpce41
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 24, 2020
Cowboy Cerrone is coming back to the ring following a nasty defeat against Conor McGregor, and he faces Anthony Pettis. Both of these fighters desperately want a win, as they suffered a lot of losses in recent times. Pettis has three in four matches, while Cerrone has three in a row, all via stoppage.
Greg Hardy and Yorgan de Castro are also promising a lot of fun, same as Alexsei Olenik and Fabricio Werdum. Four more prominent fights are Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson, Jacare Souza vs. Uriah Hall, Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price and Charles Rosa vs Bryce Mitchell.
What also thrills the UFC fans is the fact that White announced two more events shortly after UFC 249, on May 13 and May 16 and both of them are at the same venue.
And to add one more info, his famous project Fight Island will start in June, featuring international fights.
“We really are putting an Octagon on the beach. There’s going to be training facilities there for people. There are hotels, and all the infrastructure is going to be built for the UFC to have fights there,” he said.
Well, it seems that we are about to witness something unbelievable.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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