UFC 249 A Casual Fan’s Recap

I’m not a die-hard MMA fan. I couldn’t talk to you about stances or technique. But I do watch the odd UFC PPV depending on who’s on there and If my boy Conor McGregor is fighting I’m watching and I apologize “to absolutely nobody” for that. On Saturday night I watched UFC 249 and these were my takeaways as a casual fan.

DANA GOT TROUBLE!

First there was Jacare Souza testing positive for COVID-19 the night before the fight along with two of his entourage and then Dominick Cruz ripped one of his refs claiming he “stunk of alcohol and cigarettes”. Sure it may be a heated reaction from Cruz who had just loss to Henry Cejudo from a ref stoppage in the second round of their Bantamweight title fight, but Cruz took no prisoners when speaking to Megan Olivi on the post show.

Cruz: “I wish that there was a way to keep these refs a little bit more responsible sometimes. Guy smelled like alcohol and cigarettes so who knows what he was doing.”

Olivi: “Did he really?

Cruz: “Definitely. I wish they drug tested them. I immediately when I saw that ref was like man is there a way to like veto a ref and get a new one. As fighters do we have that choice?”

Olivi: “I’m not sure”

Cruz: “Me neither and I wish we did”

Whatever about the unwanted press of Souza, to have someone who while out injured has been a color commentator for some of your PPV cards come out and say that will not please Dana and will give the naysayers one more thing to latch on to.

CEJUDO IS NOT RETIRING!

I’m not buying it for a second. The guy is a two division champion at the peak of his career and just beat one of the greatest Bantamweights of all time. His massive ego won’t let him go anywhere. He just wants to be paid according to Ariel Helwani of ESPN who tweeted after the announcement

I know Cejudo really wanted a big pay raise after beating Moraes, and he didn’t get that. That bugged him. One wonders if his announcement tonight had anything to do with that.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 10, 2020

He’ll be back as soon as ‘Uncle Dana’ as he called him dips a little deeper into his pockets.

FERGUSON IS NOT HUMAN!

There is no way a man should be able to absorb that much punishment. I mean at one point Gaethje’s corner told him to take 10% off his shots as they felt he was “trying to kill him”. Ferguson finally succumbed in the fifth when Herb Dean stepped in but I mean DAMN! Gaethje hit him with everything and the kitchen sink but couldn’t knock him out. Ferguson could have handled the loss better as he pushed Gaethje away when he went to shake his hand, something I think he realized later as he went out of his way to congratulate Justin.

GAETHJE GOT BOMBS!

The man can hit! I mean there were a number a times I literally winced when he caught Ferguson. The fact that he unhooked the interim title and threw it away after being announced the winner, only to tell Joe Rogan “I’ll wait for the real one” gives you an indication of who he wants next and the man from Colorado deserves his moment in the limelight against Khabib whenever that is.

UFC 249 Main Card Predictions

RECAP OF THE REST!

I never want Francis Ngannou to hit me. EVER!

Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis and Cowboy Donald Cerrone was easily my fight of the night.

Bryce Mitchell was damn impressive but he had control for the whole fight. Let’s see him overcome adversity

Some fighters need to have a whip around for Daniel Cormier for all the free advice they got to hear with no fans in attendance.