The month of July is a lightweight one for the UFC. With the promotion already having held a bye week over the weekend of the Fourth of July inside america, solely three occasions had been on the schedule this seventh month of the 12 months. By and enormous, MMA‘s prime promotion placed on an exquisite present Saturday night time.
UFC Denver was a homecoming of kinds for Dana White’s promotion. Saturday’s occasion was the primary UFC Battle Night time card to be held inside Ball Middle because the Nov. 10, 2018 present on FS1, commemorating the UFC’s silver anniversary.
We have to return in time, nonetheless, to a degree the place the UFC’s relationship with Colorado appeared to be fractured.
UFC Nearly Didn’t Go Again to Denver
There was concern prior to now that the UFC may by no means set foot in Colorado once more. Again in 2021, UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner, spoke out on the Colorado State Athletic Fee’s then-new coverage on MMA the place knee strikes to the top of a downed contestant had been legalized.
“I’d inform the world that we’re not going there,” Ratner stated on the time. “I’d inform the Governor that we’d love to come back to Colorado, however it’s important to have the proper guidelines. So, I’m towards that.”
Regardless of what Ratner stated virtually three years in the past, the UFC returned to the place each UFC 1 (often known as UFC 1: Within the Starting) and UFC 2 (retroactively retitled UFC 2: No Means Out) came about within the fall of 1993 and the spring of 1994, respectively, over the weekend.
The Crowd Was Dwell
Judging by the viewers’s response to the present on Saturday night time, Denver was lengthy overdue for one more UFC present. Once you consider the undercard of an MMA present, you get an concept in your head of what the scale of the group may be.
Other than a couple of diehard followers of the game, not very many individuals are within the venue. Provided that the promotion hadn’t been there because the silver anniversary card in 2018, it’s not a shock that the followers confirmed up and confirmed out early within the night and saved the vitality going for your complete six-hours plus that the cardboard lasted.
It was a successful night time for the group, and by extension, the UFC as a complete. Figures launched after the primary occasion of the night indicated that UFC Denver was a sold-out card. All 16,884 seats had been accounted for on Saturday night time.
One other SOLD OUT occasion from town the place it began! #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/s0M7FHMSq8
— TKO (@TKOGrp) July 14, 2024
Jackson Delivers Finest Second of Night time
The sold-out crowd had lots to roar about, as properly, throughout Saturday’s present, together with an electrifying end late within the prelims. Should you took a restroom break in the course of the Montel Jackson vs. Da’Mon Blackshear bout at bantamweight, you returned to your seat having missed an superior knockout.
Proper from the command to combat, Jackson’s mission was easy: Search and destroy. Maybe much more unimaginable is the foreshadowing given by Paul Felder, who was working as an analyst for the telecast this weekend.
“Watch the straight punches of Jackson,” Felder stated. “They’re simply lightning, like straight down the pipe.” The phrases had been barely out of Felder’s mouth when Jackson scored with a single blow to ground Blackshear, with referee Nick Berens ending the combat after simply 18 seconds.
Through the post-fight press convention, Jackson pocketed $50,000 (USD) as one of many winners of the Efficiency of the Night time Award. This combat might turn into the most effective knockouts of 2024 by the point December hits.
Cortez No Match for Namajunas in Headlining Affair
Your predominant occasion of the night noticed Rose Namajunas tackle Tracy Cortez in a girls’s flyweight affair. “Thug Rose” saved up the tempo all through the competition and gave Cortez little likelihood to get entering into spherical one.
Though Cortez tried to lock up a submission in spherical two of the combat, Namajunas was the hardest buyer within the store, utilizing her floor sport to pacify her adversary, who made her predominant occasion debut this weekend. Merely put, this was a scientific efficiency for the previous champion at strawweight.
Along with her unanimous determination victory over Cortez, anticipate Rose Namajunas to be firmly within the dialog for the UFC Ladies’s Flyweight Championship. If she will parlay this efficiency into one other victory in her subsequent combat, she may very well be a challenger for the 125-lb. belt versus Alexa Grasso in some unspecified time in the future in 2025.
Ultimate Ideas
If Ball Middle wished to make use of UFC Denver as a costume rehearsal for ONE 168 on the night time of Sept. 6, think about it a hit. Whereas among the UFC Battle Night time playing cards don’t dwell as much as followers’ expectations, this was an excellent outing for the promotion.
Hopefully, UFC CEO Dana White shortlists Ball Middle as a possible host website for a future pay-per-view. It’d solely be proper. MMA as we all know it started in Denver in 1993, so think about a UFC pay-per-view from there sooner or later.
