By: Julio Olmo

It has been over fifty days since UFC last put on a fight card amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, UFC will be bringing its’ talents to Jacksonville, Florida.

Two weeks after previous plans in California fell apart, UFC president Dana White found a new home for UFC 249 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje will face off in the main event and Henry Cejudo will face former two-time champ, Dominick Cruz.

UFC president Dana White needs to Pump The Brakes on the dramatics and concentrate talking solely on UFC business and helping the people, who are critical to the UFC continued success.

His personal political views among other things are totally unnecessary and pointless.

“El Que No Esta Aqui, No Hace Falta!”

Dana White needs to take a page from Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance and protect The Brand at all cost and come to the conclusion that under no circumstance is he, not only going be able to please the majority of his supporters – let alone silence his critics.

The event will be the first of three events for UFC at the same location and will take place in front of an empty arena after Florida became the first state to deem professional sports as essential provided fans do not attend.

Can the card go on without a major hitch?

That’s the key question after a wild six weeks that saw UFC president Dana White determined to bring back fights at all costs. Some of the criticism White received along the way was well deserved.

Like his troubling refusal to confirm that all fighters will be subject to COVID-19 testing and his constant belief the media is against him.

If the show comes off as planned without any major hiccups and kickstarts an aggressive return to the business that will see UFC promote three fight cards next, in an attempt to get caught up and on schedule by late June.

While preventing the spread of the coronavirus is Job 1, so will be pulling off the logistics of this unique undertaking from travel to producing an entertaining broadcast.

How good will the fights be without full training camps? How might the haphazard matchmaking affect title pictures in different divisions? These are questions that can only be answered over the long term if May 9 is a success.

No one is more deserving of a full UFC title shot than Tony Ferguson, who is currently riding a 12-fight winning streak in the sport’s deepest division.

Ferguson versus Gaethje is going to be hot fire. This is a badass fight under any circumstances.

While the hype of Ferguson versus Gaethje is very real, most of that applies to Francis Ngannou versus Jair Rozenstruik, too.

One man will almost certainly end the fight on his back and the other will step up to the on-deck circle for next in line shot at Stipe Miocic’s title.

Ngannou has grown steadily since his first title shot against Miocic while Rozenstruik has been able to overcome his raw inexperience with brutal power punching.

Both are scary and both can end a fight with one punch. This should be wild.