UFC officially announces event in Florida on May 9th + more events
UFC 249 is officially underway, set for Jacksonville, Florida, and the promotion have two more events planned.
After weeks of rumors, the UFC have now officially announced plans for the next events planned. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has put a stop to several events, not just for the UFC, but pretty much all major organisations across the globe. However, now the UFC is going ahead, and have UFC 249 set to go down in Jacksonville, Florida on May 9th, and have announced the full fight card. The promotion announced this via a press release, and included plans for two additional events on May 13th and May 19th. The two yet-unnamed events will also take place in Jacksonville.
The main event will see top-ranked lightweights Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje battle for the interim title. Originally, before the outbreak of Covid-19, Ferguson was set to challenge reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed title, but that bout fell through due to the unforeseen circumstances the world has endured with the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Ferguson is riding a twelve fight wining streak, including wins over Kevin Lee and Anthony Pettis. Gaethje, on the other hand, has three straight wins via T/KO, most recently over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
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The co-main event will see bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo defend his title against former champion Dominick Cruz. Cejudo captured the vacant bantamweight title after knocking out Marlon Moraes. Cruz returns to the octagon after years of inactivity, brought on by injuries.
“I can’t wait to deliver some great fights for the fans,” UFC president Dana White in a statement. “I want to give a big thanks to Mayor Curry, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and Florida State Boxing Commission executive director Patrick Cunningham for getting this thing done and giving us a venue to put on these incredible cards, as well as our media partners including ESPN and ESPN+, for bringing it to fans. My team is ready to go, and the fighters are excited to get back in there with these back-to-back events.”
Aside from this heavyweight knockout artists Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik will throw down, and featherweight sluggers Jeremy Stephens and Calvin Kattar duke it out for contender status in the division.
UFC 249, Jacksonville, Florida – Full fight card
- Lightweight: Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje – For interim lightweight title
- Bantamweight: Henry Cejudo vs Dominick Cruz – For bantamweight title
- Heavyweight: Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Featherweight: Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar
- Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs Anthony Pettis
- Heavyweight: Greg Hardy vs Yorgan De Castro
- Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik vs Fabricio Werdum
- Light heavyweight: Ryan Spann vs Sam Alvey
- Women’s straweight: Carla Esparza vs Michelle Waterson
- Middleweight: Uriah Hall vs Jacare Souza
- Welterweight: Vicente Luque vs Niko Price
- Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell vs Charles Rosa
