UFC 249 is going to happen on May 9, 2020
UFC 249 will take place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida
UFC 249 is back on. This time with a slightly different cast of characters, and I mean characters.
That UFC 249 is even taking place at all is something of a minor miracle. Some people might say is as a result of a misguided attempt by UFC President Dana White to bring sports back to our televisions and into our lives during an unprecedented time in human history, much less sports history.
The long road of UFC 249 to Jacksonville, FL
First Dana White told us that UFC 249 was going to take place without a live audience. Then headliner Khabib Nurmagomedov was noted to be back home in Russia and without any way of flying back to the states for the fight.
No matter. Top ranked UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje signed on to replace Khabib on short notice.
Next, there was no place to hold the fight. Governors in all 50 states had ordered their citizens to stay home. All non-essential businesses were shuttered for the immediate foreseeable future, and we all did stay home and practiced social distancing.
Then an Native American Reservation in California offered a solution.
All American sports leagues had paused and postponed their seasons due to the coronavirus outbreak, as have most competitions around the world, but the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts competition, continued to insist it would host events starting with a pay-per-view title fight in California.
Tribal lands to the rescue of the UFC
California was already under a statewide stay-at-home order, but UFC president Dana White intended to get around state regulations and federal guidelines on the pandemic by hosting the event on Native American tribal land. Tribal lands are not subject to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order shuttering nonessential businesses and keeping people home.
UFC 249 was originally scheduled to take place on April 18 in Brooklyn. New York. But New York City was hit hardest so far by the COVID-19 coronavirus, and the city and state had already been on lockdown for weeks.
The Las Vegas–based UFC was forced to postpone three events in March and April due to increasingly stringent coronavirus protective orders, but after searching for alternative hosting situations, including a private island, White announced that UFC 249 would take place at the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in central California. The casino is about 40 miles south of Fresno and sits on land belonging to the federally recognized Tachi-Yokut Tribe.
Postponed again
The casino, however, had also been shut down since March 20 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. “As we prepare and navigate through this uncertain time, we will continue to follow guidance from the CDC, WHO and other health authorities,” Tribal Council Chairman Leo Sisco said in a statement at the time of the closure. “We encourage people to follow these guidelines, as there is a great deal we can all do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to support all efforts that will protect the health and well-being of our communities.”
UFC has debts to pay
Over the past two weeks, however, that commitment to follow those health guidelines appears to have changed. White, a friend and supporter of President Donald Trump, has insisted that the UFC can host the events safely and vowed to host similar fights weekly at the venue over the next two months. The events, which usually have a live audience, appear to be going forward without any spectators. But ticket sales aren’t what drive the UFC; TV dollars are.
“Behind efforts to keep UFC fights going are the company’s $1.5 billion contract with ESPN and $2.3 billion in debt the UFC took on in recent years,” the Wall Street Journal reports. To fulfill that contract to ESPN, which has the exclusive rights to the competition, UFC is obligated to put on 42 events in 2020. It has only been able to hold seven so far this year. Another motivating factor is that UFC is carrying around billions in debt from when it was bought by Endeavor PLC, a media company, and the private equity firms KKR & Co. and Silver Lake.
Then we found out who the real boss is.
The real boss – Disney?
UFC president Dana White announced April 9 that the UFC event scheduled to take place Apr. 18 on tribal land had been cancelled, and that all of its other events had been postponed. White told ESPN in an interview that executives at ESPN and its parent company Disney, intervened to shut down the mixed martial arts competition’s end run around state health guidelines by hosting fights at a central California casino that sits on land belonging to the federally recognized Tachi-Yokut Tribe.
“Today, we got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney, and the highest level at ESPN … and the powers that be there asked me to stand down and not do this event [next] Saturday,” White told ESPN Thursday.
“Nobody wants to see sports return more than we do, but we didn’t feel this was the right time for a variety of reasons,” ESPN said in a statement. “ESPN expressed its concerns to the UFC and they understood.”
Enter the Fight Island
Then, in something straight out of a Bruce Lee movie, we thought UFC 249 was going to take place on a private island, fight Island. But for some reason fight island has not materialized yet.
However, UFC 249 has been resurrected from the dead. It is alive and taking place in Jacksonville, Florida, thanks to a change in restrictions in that state. It looks like UFC might be the first sport to get back up and running after the coronavirus.SEE AT ESPN PLUS
Many of the fights originally scheduled on the original UFC 249 are still present on this new card. Namely, its main event: Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje. No, it’s not Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov as originally planned, but outside of getting Conor McGregor in, it’s the next best thing.
Main Event: Ferguson vs Gaethje
Ferguson vs Gaethje is an awesome interim title fight. A battle between two human bulls, two athletes who will march forward no matter what. Gaethje, especially, has been in practically nothing but fight of the year contenders. He will kick your legs till you cannot walk. Ferguson is also known for his incredible cardio and pressure. I can’t wait for this one.
Cejudo vs Cruz
UFC 249 has also been bolstered by a second title fight, between Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz — also a compelling contest. Cejudo is a two-division champ and an Olympic gold medalist; Cruz is possibly the best UFC bantamweight of all time. But it’s arguable that Cruz shouldn’t be getting this opportunity (his last fight was a loss, three and a half years ago) This will a tough fight to call. Cruz has proven to be remarkably immune to ring rust. Be sure to check back with MatMartial for odds and betting lines which we will be posting shortly.
Don’t miss UFC 249
Outside the two titles fights, this card runs deep. It’s jam packed with stars: Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Michelle Waterson all feature. As does Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, a terrifying contest between arguably the two most dangerous heavyweights in the UFC.
You’d be mad to miss this one.
How to watch UFC 249
This year the UFC entered a new partnership with ESPN. That’s great news for the UFC and the expansion of the sport of MMA, but bad news for consumer choice. If you want to watch UFC live in the US especially.
In the USA
In the US, if you’re looking for how to watch UFC 249, you’ll only find the fight night on PPV through ESPN Plus. The cost structure is a bit confusing, but here are the options to watch UFC on ESPN, according to ESPN’s site.
- Existing yearly ESPN Plus subscribers can order the upcoming UFC fight for $65.
- Existing monthly ESPN Plus subscribers will be able to either upgrade to an annual plan and buy UFC PPV for $85 or purchase the ability to watch UFC PPV for $65 by itself.
- New ESPN Plus subscribers can buy a bundle of one UFC PPV event (streaming in HD) and an ESPN Plus annual recurring subscription for $85. The ESPN Plus annual ESPN subscription will autorenew after one year, at the price of an ESPN Plus annual subscription at the time of autorenewal.
You can do all of the above at the link below.SEE AT ESPN PLUS
In the UK
MMA fans in the UK looking for how to watch UFC 249, will find it exclusively through BT Sport. There are more options to watch UFC live if you live in Australia. You can watch UFC 249 through Main Event on Foxtel. Or stream online on the UFC website or watch UFC live online using its app to stream on your computer or smart TVs. You can even order UFC using your PlayStation 4 to watch the fight or stream using the UFC app on your Xbox One.
Start time
UFC 249 takes place on Saturday, May 9, 2020 in the US. Although unlike most UFC events we can expect, given the current situation with COVID-19, this is a fluid situation. Times and dates could change at any time. We’ll try to keep this as up-to-date as possible.
USA
- The main card starts at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT)
- The prelims start at 8 p.m. ET
- The early prelims start at 6:00 p.m. ET
UK
(Note in the UK the main card for UFC 249 starts Sunday, May 10.)
- The main card starts at 3 a.m. GMT
- The prelims start at 1 a.m. GMT
- The early prelims start at 11:00 p.m. GMT
Australia
(Note in Australia UFC 249 starts on Sunday, May 10.)
- The main card starts at 12 p.m. AEDT
- The prelims start at 10 a.m. AEDT
- The early prelims start at 8:00 a.m. AEDT
Who’s fighting at UFC 249
Main card
- Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje
- Henry Cejudo vs Dominick Cruz
- Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar
- Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro
Prelims
- Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone
- Aleksei Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson
- Uriah Hall vs. Ronaldo Souza
Early prelims
- Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Charles Rosa
- Ryan Spann vs. Sam Alvey
Be sure to check back in with MatMartial.com for updates, predictions, and betting odds as UFC 249 gets closer. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of our other posts on MMA and Jiu-Jitsu
- Returning to Jiu Jitsu after the pandemic 5 principals to keep in mind
- What I’ve learned after a year of not training Jiu-Jitsu
- Is Khabib Nurmagomedov really the GOAT?
- UFC’s Shavkat Rakhmonov: The Nomad and the Cowboy Killer, and proper guillotine technique
- UFC 254 a strong fight card: Oliveira vs Rakhmonov and Murphy vs Shakirova
