Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is gearing up for its highly-anticipated return to action after an extended hiatus due to COVID-19, as the Endeavor-owned mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion will stage UFC 249 on Sat., May 9 inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganza will be headlined by an interim Lightweight title fight as Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje collide for the chance to unify the titles against division king, Khabib Nurmagomedov, sometime this year.
The two were set to headline the previously-scheduled UFC 249 event on April 18 before ESPN, Disney and California’s governor stepped in to spoil Dana White’s plans. But now that UFC has found a friend in Florida, the promotion is looking to make up for lost time.
In the co-headlining act, Dominick Cruz will look to once again become Bantamweight champion as he faces current division kingpin, Henry Cejudo. Also, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone tango for a second time, while Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruick collide in what is likely a No. 1 contenders fight at Heavyweight.
Now that the promotion is up-and-running again, it’s wasting no time in pumping out the promotional videos for what will be the first of three events in eight days.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 249 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 249: “Ferguson vs. Gaethje” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
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