UFC

Dana White ensures Khabib Nurmagomedov-less UFC 249 will be a hit thanks to incredible fight card

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UFC president pulled it off once again with a great looking UFC 249 fight card

Khabib Nurmagomedov will be missed from the UFC 249 fight card, but it is a miracle we are still having the clash amidst the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic.

Travel bans, last-minute changes, location issues have plagued Dana White since UFC Brasil. However, the president has come trumps with the fight card for UFC 249.

Dana White, UFC President gives a speech during 2019 UFC Performance Institute Panel and UFC Fight Night Shenzhen Press Conference (Photo by Yifan Ding/Getty Images)

Sure, losing the Khabib vs Tony Ferguson clash is a big blow. But getting Justin Gaethje at such short notice to face Ferguson is a great move.

Of course, it is difficult on the part of Gaethje to get into fighting rhythm and it will be interesting to see what happens next, but that isn’t the only amazing fight of the night.

White made some calls, some changes and lo and behold, we have a great card to enjoy. While Gaethje vs Ferguson is the talk of the town for the interim Lightweight title, there is a lot of action ahead of UFC 249.

Big matches galore at UFC 249

The UFC 249 fight card has a total of 12 fights split into three groups. These will be available on several platforms and ESPN will be showing them too.

Main Card
Lightweight Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje
Women’s Strawweight Jéssica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
Heavyweight Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan de Castro
Welterweight Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price
Featherweight Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar
Preliminary card
Heavyweight Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Middleweight Ronaldo Souza vs. Uriah Hall
Lightweight Alexander Hernandez vs. Omar Antonio Morales Ferrer
Bantamweight Marlon Vera vs. Ray Borg
Preliminary card 2
Lightweight Michael Johnson vs. Khama Worthy
Women’s Bantamweight Sijara Eubanks vs. Sarah Moras
Light Heavyweight Ryan Spann vs. Sam Alvey

While Gaethje vs Ferguson is the one fight people will keep their eye out for. We cannot overlook Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas.

Both women are former UFC Strawweight champions and had faced off at UFC 237. It was Andrade that picked up the win in that bout, and Namajunas would be looking to get her revenge in this clash.

Another epic clash should be the one between Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

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Francis Ngannou attends the UFC Fight Night: Ultimate media day at Wanda Realm Hotel on November 22, 2018 (Photo by Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images)

Ngannou is ranked #2 in the UFC Heavyweight division and there has been talk of him facing Stipe Miocic, the champion, sometime in the future.

Rozenstruik, for his part, is 10-0 in his MMA career and recently beat Alistair Overeem at UFC: Overeem vs Rozenstruik.

Three clashes enough for a huge UFC

Those three matches could each headline an event, and it will be interesting to see how some of the other bouts go.

White has done all he can to ensure UFC 249 goes ahead, and the fight card does look pretty good so far.

Jessica Andrade (yellow) of Brazil hits Angela Hill with a left hook during their women’s strawweight bout at UFC Fight Night (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

Hopefully, we get some quality action on 18 April as most sport fans have been starved of quality action.

While Gaethje vs Ferguson will be incredible, a lot of these fights in the undercard and prelim card have the potential to be talked about for years.

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Saiyed Adeem Karim

Ditching a corporate job to follow a dream isn't easy, but when football comes calling, who can say no? Been following the beautiful game since 1998. Liverpool addict, F1 fanatic!