It looks like UFC 249 was a home run despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The UFC held its first event since March 14th this past Saturday night (May 9). UFC 249 was held inside the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. No fans were in attendance. The main event featured an interim lightweight title bout between Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson. UFC bantamweight title holder Henry Cejudo put his gold on the line against Dominick Cruz.
UFC 249 Does Big PPV Numbers Amid Pandemic
Despite the circumstances globally, UFC 249 reportedly knocked it out of the park. John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reports that UFC 249 drew 700,000 pay-per-view buys.
Speaking to Yahoo! Sports, UFC president Dana White gloated over the UFC’s success. White didn’t confirm whether or not Ourand’s report is accurate but it’s safe to say the UFC boss is happy.
“We absolutely destroyed it,” White told Yahoo Sports via telephone Monday. “It was a home run by every measure. The early trends were good and they continued.”
In the UFC 249 headliner, Gaethje captured the interim UFC lightweight title. He defeated Ferguson via fifth-round TKO. He is now set to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title unification bout, likely this summer.
As for the co-headliner, it was Cejudo who emerged victorious over Cruz. “Triple C” ended up scoring a second-round TKO victory over “The Dominator.” After the bout, Cejudo announced his retirement.
MMA News provided live coverage of UFC 249 during fight night. If you aren’t up to speed, you can peep our homepage for results, highlights, and post-fight tidbits.
