At a time when all the sporting activities across the globe are at halt due to coronavirus pandemic, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 249 returned to action at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday.
After missing nearly two months of action due to coronavirus and social distancing retrictions, UFC still had 11 fights left in hand to present in front of its fans.
On Sunday, American mixed martial artist Tony Ferguson is all set to lock horns with Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title in the main event.Ferguson was initially slated to take on Russian champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the bout was forced to be cancelled for the fifth time due to travel restrictions because of the pandemic.
In another bout, America's Henry Cejudo successfuly defended his Bantamweight Championship title after defeating former champion Dominick Cruz in the co-main event.
Though Cruz (22-2) has an edge over Cejudo (15-2) in size and better footwork, he headed into the bout without a fight since being destroyed by Cody Garbrandt in December of 2016.
Cejudo, on the other hand, has been in the midst of a run which has made him look unbeaten.
And the bout proved the same as Cejudo stopped Dominick Cruz with strikes at 4:58 of the second round to defend his title.
Flyweight title defended
Bantamweight title defendedDON'T. DOUBT. @HenryCejudo! #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/dS4HhehUFZ
— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2020
Meanwhile, Cameroonian mixed martial artist Francis Ngannou (10-1) unloaded a terrifying blitz of punches against Suriname's Jair Rozenstruik (15-3) via knockout to win the bout just 20 seconds after it started and lift the heavyweight title.
@Francis_Ngannou #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/2suF1YjW7M
— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2020
Take a look at other bouts of the day:
Calvin Kattar defeated Jeremy Stephens via second-round knockout (elbow)
Greg Hardy defeated Yorgan de Castro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Anthony Pettis defeated Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Aleksei Oleinik defeated Fabricio Werdum via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Carla Esparza defeated Michelle Waterson via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
Vicente Luque defeated Niko Price via third-round TKO (doctor stoppage)
Bryce Mitchell defeated Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-24)
Ryan Spann defeated Sam Alvey via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
