Wrestlers Ferguson, Gaethje, Cejudo and Cruz headline historic UFC 249 return to the Octagon this Saturday

With the entire sporting world shut down, it will be four wrestlers who will help bring us out of the darkness and back into light.


UFC 249 is scheduled for Saturday, May 9 in Jacksonville, Fla. at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, with no fans and only essential personnel in attendance. This is one of the first, and clearly the most prominent, professional sports event making its return after the shutdown caused by COVID-19. All four of the main event and co-main event stars on this historic card are wrestlers, and take great pride in their wrestling heritage.


The Main Event us for the UFC interim lightweight championship, with No. 1 ranked contender Tony Ferguson battling No. 4 ranked contender Justin Gaethje. The Co-Main Event features a title bout between UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo and former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Cejudo, a 2008 Olympic freestyle wrestling champion, had the most prominent wrestling career, but all four were excellent wrestlers and utilize their wrestling skills as MMA stars.


With the world’s spotlight on them on Saturday, all four athletes are pumped up to show what they can do. Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje summed it up quite well.


“It is great. It is awesome. You can hear it in our voices, dude. Right now, there is no Olympics, no Wimbledon, no NBA draft, no NFL draft, no tennis, no soccer or hockey and no baseball. This is what we bring to the table. We are going to go out there and do our best and keep sports alive,” Ferguson said.


“This will bring a sense of normalcy to people. I am proud to be a part of it. There is an opportunity to inspire. People need to be inspired right now. They need not to let themselves become depressed or emotional. They can’t control what is going on right now. They have to ride it through and they need to be inspired, and we can do it. We have the opportunity,” said Gaethje.


The four main event athletes were featured on a UFC media teleconference on Tuesday. In their own unique way, the UFC stars promoted their matches, with its fair share of profanity included in the discussion. However, as part of the back and forth between the contestants, all four mentioned wrestling.

THE MAIN EVENT


Justin Gaethje made his name in wrestling in college as a Div. I All-American at Northern Colorado, placing seventh at 157 pounds at the 2010 NCAA Championships in Omaha, Neb. Gaethje won two Arizona state high school titles for Safford High School (2006 and 2007) and was a four-time state finalist. His high school team won three state team wrestling titles.


Ferguson won a 2006 Michigan state high school title for Muskegon Catholic Central High School. In college. He attended Central Michigan, but Ferguson finished up at Grand Valley State, where he was a NCWA national champion in 2006 at 165 pounds.


Ferguson was scheduled to face UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title, an event that was cancelled. Ferguson jumped at the chance to fight Gaethje in this event.


“I never wait. I always take every single opportunity. This one is not just for me, but for faith, family and friends. There is a lot going on in the world. I am just trying to do my part, to keep sports alive,” he said.


When pressed about being completely ready for Gaethje when the bout was finally firmed up, Ferguson insisted that he was ready to compete.


“It wasn’t short notice. I have been training for six or seven months. As soon as we found out we would fight Khabib, I was already training in December. Conditioning is there. Strength is there. My body has completely changed. I had my strength and conditioning coach besides myself. I had my trainer push me through the ring every practice. 12 hour days. Seriously, it wasn’t easy but I made it happen. I lucky to have one of the best teams behind me in the entire world. I am ready for anything,” he said.


When a journalist tried to compliment Ferguson for making weight on April 18 (when his fight was first scheduled) and then again this week, Ferguson downplayed it because of his wrestling background.


“I didn’t think it was that impressive at all. Justin can vouch for this too. When you are a wrestler, you make weight every weekend. It just seemed like the right thing to do, with what was going on. It wasn’t easy. It was difficult. I didn’t have my nutritionist with me to do it. I handled it just the way I knew how to. I just went out there and did it,” he said.


These two fighters have respect for each other and did not trade insults. After Ferguson said that Gaethje had “a lot of heart,” Gaethje was also very complimentary of Ferguson.


“I am a huge fan of MMA. I recognize the tenacity that he brings to the cage. I am looking forward to the storm. We get to put paychecks in all of our pockets, we get to put a paycheck in every UFC employees pocket that gets to work this event. We get to inspire people to not give up right now. He is the epitome of an athlete. He loves violence and he loves carnage,” Gaethje said.


After Ferguson said that he considers this the title fight, in spite of its designation as an interim title fight, Gaethje gave his thoughts about what it means to him.


“This is the biggest fight of my life. The interim belt means that you are recognized as the No. 2 man to Khabib. Well, Khabib can’t fight right now. The baddest men on the planet are competing this weekend for the right to call themselves the best, and then ultimately challenge Khabib. We are fighting for the opportunity to be the best in America, then beat Khabib. That is what I am fighting for,” said Gaethje.


When Gaethje was asked about having to compete without a crowd.


“Me and Tony grew up as wrestlers. You never know how many people are going to be in that arena, in a gym. It doesn’t matter. At a dual, sometimes they don’t show up. Competition is competition. I believe it will be a much more intimate situation, as weird as that sounds. The fans will get to hear the shots, get to hear the breathing, hear the talking from the coaches. I am a huge fan of MMA. I can’t wait to watch this fight when it is over. I know that it can not disappoint,” he said.


Gaethje felt that both fighters would be completely ready for a great fight and were as motivated as ever.


“There’s not very often when you get to figth for a World title on the biggest stage in the world, much less during a pandemic when there are no sports going on. You are going to be the only one on TV. It is a perfect storm. This is all we fight for as athletes and fighters. You fight to be No. 1. You fight to prove you are No. 1. You have to face your fears. You have to go out and take the chances in order to win,” he said.

THE CO-MAIN EVENT


Cejudo’s wrestling background is well documented. A four-time state champion (twice in Arizona for Maryvale High School and twice in Colorado for Coronado High School), Cejudo was a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete his last two years in high school. He did not go to college to wrestle, focusing on freestyle, and won the Olympic gold medal at 57 kg in 2008 in Beijing, the youngest American Olympic wrestling champion at 21 years old (until Kyle Snyder won in it 2016 at age 20).


Cruz is the third of the four wrestlers in the main event matches to wrestle in high school in Arizona, wrestling for Flowing Wells High School and serving as the team captain. Cruz did not wrestle in college. He was inducted into the Flowing Wells High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.


The Cejudo-Cruz interview session got a little personal in trash-talking style. Cejudo called Cruz a “Princess” and “Dominique” numerous times. Cruz referred to Cejudo as “short,” as a “Little Man,” a “true 125-pounder” and “not a true 135-pounder.”


In spite of the steam of insults, Cejudo did find some time to give props to Cruz.


“My last fight is always my best fight, and I do respect Dominick Cruz. I do know he is tricky. The difference between me and everybody else is that I don’t ever fight anybody the same. I am the type of guy who can make adjustments. I expect the best from Dominick. The reason why Dominick has been successful is because of his grit. He is a tough challenger. He has been around the sport for a very long time. I have analyzed his fights. He is smart. He has a good MMA IQ. But he is going up against an opponent who is younger and stronger and in his prime,” said Cejudo.


When Cruz suggested that he had a ton of more experience and skill in MMA which would allow him to easily win their bout, Cejudo referred back to his wrestling career.


“When I first started wrestling, I wasn’t doing as great in the beginning of my international career. But once I got my feet wet, I shocked the world. There is no difference with wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts,” he said.


Cruz spent a lot of time responding to reporters who questioned his ability to perform after three years away from competition. Cruz said he felt great and that ring rust is not a problem, only something in other people’s mind.


“It is about making sure you prepare yourself the right way. I live this life to train. When this is all said and done, I am going to be in this kind of shape still. I am always training. It is like a livelihood for me. This is how I like to live my life, in shape and feeling good and training hard. Transformation is a public event, so I am constantly trying to transform in my life. This is how you do it, on a stage, in the first sports event ever happen. All this comes together to create a lot of fire, and I am excited for it,” said Cruz.


Cruz wants to use this fight as a platform for good in the world during difficult times.


“I look at this different than in belts and all the things that we have. It is all about how you can make a difference in these times when you have a platform. I look at this as a time where I can make a huge difference. What is the value of championship belts or Olympic gold medals when there are 33 million Americans who just filed for unemployment benefits, who can’t see their families since mid-March. Thousands of Americans have died, and there is no vaccine for COVID-19 coming, and probably no end in sight. What is the value of belts and Olympic gold medals, unless you can use it to make a difference in the service of humanity,” he said.


When questioned about the risk of getting the virus, Cruz explained why he did not hesitate to compete this weekend.


“Anybody on earth can get this, but you can’t just freeze up when you see something that is scary. You just got to take the precaution, be as safe as possible and live your life. That is what I am doing,” said Cruz.