The largest week of the 12 months for MMA followers takes place subsequent week in Las Vegas because the countdown to UFC Worldwide Combat Week begins.
I’ve labored on UFC Worldwide Combat Week a number of instances through the years as an accredited media and it’s at all times one of many highlights of my 12 months of service. It has additionally offered magical moments through the years.
My first UFC Worldwide Combat Week was at UFC 189 in 2015. There, I sat within the press field and watched McGregor win the interim featherweight title towards Chad Mendes on the MGM Grand. Sinead O’Connor and Aaron Lewis sang McGregor and Mendes into the Octagon in an unbelievable dwell efficiency, and the ambiance within the enviornment stuffed with Irish followers was unforgettable. McGregor weathered Mendes’ early storm and finally stopped Mendes late within the second spherical to win his first UFC title.
Craziest combat week ever?
A 12 months later, the craziest sport week I’ve ever skilled arrived. It was an enormous week with three UFC occasions in three days, culminating with UFC 200.
First, Eddie Alvarez defeated Rafael dos Anjos in model on Thursday evening to win the undisputed light-weight title, then Joanna Jedrzejczyk defeated Claudia Gadelha on Friday evening to retain the undisputed ladies’s strawweight title.
That set the stage for UFC 200 itself, and at a swiftly scheduled press convention, it was introduced to us within the media that the top match between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier had been canceled because of Jones failing a drug check, making UFC 200 a curler coaster week.
The ladies’s bantamweight title bout between defending champions Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes was thrust into the headlines, with “The Lioness” profitable her first UFC championship belt through first-round submission on the particular one-off Gold Octagon Canvas.
It was simply the craziest week of my sports activities reporting profession, going from media day to open follow to weigh-ins, with Jones and Cormier’s press rolling out and in, nevertheless it additionally confirmed how nimble the UFC was and nonetheless is as an organization, managing to maintain every little thing on monitor regardless of the chaos of the week.
The return of “The Mac”
It was the most important UFC Worldwide Combat Week in historical past, and it at all times appears to be a giant subject when a giant week of UFC combat festivities begins. This 12 months is not any exception, with Irish MMA celebrity Conor McGregor set to make his long-awaited return at UFC 329 on July eleventh.
McGregor will face Max Holloway in a rematch, however each males are in fully completely different positions of their careers than once they first fought. Their first assembly at UFC Boston in August 2013 noticed each fighters hailed as rising stars within the promotion, with McGregor rising because the unanimous choice winner. Nonetheless, this summer season, the 2 fighters have gained a number of titles towards one another, and their respective careers have already made them each positive to be inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame.
It is an opportunity for McGregor to rekindle his preventing profession, as it is going to be his first combat in 5 years since he suffered a nasty damaged bone in his third division bout towards Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. In the meantime, for Holloway, it is an opportunity to construct on his legacy and doubtlessly result in a rematch with former BMF rival and newly topped undisputed light-weight champion Justin Gaethje.
It is a high-profile combat for a high-profile occasion, and UFC Worldwide Combat Week historically gives the most important week of the 12 months for UFC followers.
It comes lower than a month after the latest UFC Freedom 250 occasion held on the White Home, one other large event for UFC followers with an annual week-long program of occasions together with the huge fan expo UFC
However the large draw is, after all, the massive combat card itself, and whereas this card unusually for a numbered UFC occasion has no title combat in any respect, the presence of McGregor vs. Holloway will definitely crank up the massive combat ambiance to 11 by the point “Hawaiian Kickboxer” performs over the audio system at Holloway’s walkout on combat evening.
