SPORTS!!!! Finally. The gift of sports entertainment has been bestowed upon us in the shape of Cage Fighting. Thank you Uncle Dana and the UFC for managing to put on a safe and secure event this Saturday May 9th in Jacksonville, Florida. UFC 249 is the most stacked card I have ever seen. The UFC has taken every precaution possible to limit the exposure of COVID-19. As soon as the fighters and their teams arrive, they will be tested and processed. Any sign of the virus, you will not be eligible to fight. This being said, there hasn’t been any reports on anyone having the virus and we are just under 48 hours to the event. Every fighter has their own room to train in, the room is cleaned every morning and evening, each room also has inflatable hot tub and mats to train on. Thank the MMA Gods that someone isn’t as old and as tight as Bob Arum is. This is why MMA is outgrowing boxing.
The main event isn’t THE fight we were hoping. I was very excited to see that Tony Ferguson was fighting but was upset when I didn’t see the name Khabib Namurgamedov next to his. Instead we have Justin Gaethje, the wrestler turned brawler from Colorado.
This fight will be unreal, but it’s not the only fight I’m excited for. There’s also the Co-Main event of Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz. Cruz hasn’t fought he lost a one sided decision vs Cody Garbrandt three and half years ago. Cruz has been in and out of action due to injuries and surgeries, but he’s also proven that he is completely immune to ring rust. Henry Cejudo (Known as Triple C for being the only Olympic Gold medalist and two division champ) is the Bantamweight champ after a KO victory over TJ Dillashaw, he also defeated the best pound for pound fighter in the world at the time in Demetrious Johnson for the Flyweight belt.
Also on the card is the show stopper from Cameroon, Francis Nganou. He squares off against lesser known Jairzinho Rozenstruik at 10-0 and with a recent victory over Alistair Overeem. Someone might die in this fight, both these men have extreme knockout power and I don’t see it going the scheduled three rounds.
Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar, Vicente Luque vs Nikko Price and Uriah Hall vs Jacare Souza are all on this card as well. This card gets me too excited, I don’t what to do with myself. Too fucking sick and I cant’t wait.
Predictions (winners in Bold)
Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje
Henry Cejudo vs Dominick Cruz
Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar
Greg Hardy vs Yogan De Castro
Donald Cerrone vs Anthony Pettis
Vicente Luque vs Niko Price
Carla Esparza vs Michelle Watterson
Here’s my preview show with Emilio Greco, host of Two and Half Fighters where we discussed the fights and some local MMA in Montreal.
Thanks for reading I’ll be live tweeting on Saturday night. Give me a follow @TerryTam