Live professional sports are back on in the United States! Florida has become the first state to declare that professional sports are an essential business — provided that no fans attend. UFC 249 will be the promotion’s first event in almost two months. Dana White has tried to put this on in California (as well as on a private island), but now he will be in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday night, as VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena will welcome a full card of fighters. The main event is a bout between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje for the interim UFC Lightweight Championship. The co-main event (which we will cover in a separate article) is Henry Cejudo’s defense of his UFC Bantamweight belt against Dominick Cruz. We have the full card for you below, as well as UFC Betting Odds and thoughts about the headliner.
UFC 249: Ferguson vs Gaethje Preview
Main Card (Pay Per View)
- Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje (UFC Lightweight Championship)
- Henry Cejudo vs Dominick Cruz (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
- Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik (Heavyweight)
- Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar (Featherweight)
- Greg Hardy vs Yorgan de Castro (Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN)
- Donald Cerrone vs Anthony Pettis (Welterweight)
- Aleksei Oleinik vs Fabricio Werdum (Heavyweight)
- Carla Esparza vs Michelle Waterson (Women’s Strawweight)
- Uriah Hall vs Ronaldo Souza (Middleweight)
Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+)
- Vicente Luque vs Niko Price (Welterweight)
- Bryce Mitchell vs Charles Rosa (Featherweight)
- Ryan Spann vs Sam Alvey (Light Heavyweight)
Tony Ferguson (25-3, -155) vs Justin Gaethje (21-2, +135) finally gives Ferguson the title shot he’s long earned. He has 16 career fights in the UFC promotion, and he has dominated his opposition since a 2012 loss to Michael Johnson, in which he broke his arm. However, Ferguson has had a hard time making it to the top of the card; this will just be his third main event that goes five rounds. In 2016, he beat Rafael dos Anjos, joining Khabib Nurmagomedov as one of the two contenders to face Conor McGregor. He never got to face the Irishman, though, as McGregor opted to take on Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. Ferguson did hold the interim title briefly but had to withdraw due to injury from a scheduled fight with Nurmagomedov, and the title was stripped for him. Nurmagomedov got the title, but now he can’t fight due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and so now the promotion is looking for another interim champion.
The pandemic gave Gaethje a chance to swipe the interim title for himself. Gaethje was a terrific performer in the World Series of Fighting. His game plan has been consistent: push the pressure forward, absorb whatever offense his opponent wanted to bring, and then bring a superior level of violence to force his way to a win. This was not quite as successful in UFC, as his tilts with Michael Johnson, Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez were all highlight films. However, the results didn’t match his effort, as Gaethje narrowly avoided a finish to knock out Johnson, while Alvarez and Poirier hung back and grabbed just enough points to beat him. He has added some smarts to his style, but he is still a big bomber.
Even though this is an interim title bout with Nurmagomedov waiting in the wings, once the travel restrictions ease, this is still going to be a hard gauntlet for Ferguson to endure. Ferguson tends to start slowly, responding to the vibe that his opponent brings, and that means that he could end up on the wrong end before things really unfold for him. He had to come back on points to get the win over Lando Vannata, for example. Gaethje could easily take advantage of Ferguson’s slow start and deliver a bomb at just the right time. Ferguson has a surgically repaired knee, and Gaethje has a solid leg kicking game. He can also deliver a finish as soon as he senses that his opponent has fallen into some sort of peril. However, Ferguson has the advantage of speed and quickness. Gaethje could deliver a win in the first round or perhaps the second, but the longer the fight lasts, the better the odds of Ferguson winning on the cards.
Final Prediction: Gaethje wins via knockout
