Back in Business

Eight weeks without a UFC event feels like an eternity in the era where you have an event at least three times a month. Tonight, we can finally rejoice, and we will "Face the Pain" together as UFC 249 is on in Jacksonville. Dana White, that bald beautiful bastard, held true to his word, and UFC will hopefully pave the way for other sports leagues to continue.

I survived a near heart attack last night, when news came out that Jacare Souza tested positive for corona, but luckily Dana and the Florida Athletic Commission had plans in place in case that happened. I think it needs to be understood in the UFC, and in all attempts for sports to continue, an athlete can possibly, and more likely than not, catch the virus. That shouldn't have to put a halt to the sport completely, the way it did when Rudy Goebert tested positive back in March. Every athlete that has gotten sick has been fine, and you need to chalk it up as the cost of doing business. As long as there are proper testing and other safety measures in place, like UFC had, it will  just be a new normal for now.

Now, onto the fun stuff. Tonight's three main events will pave the way for the direction of UFC in the rest of 2020. The rest of the card should also live up to the hype, with a lot of fan favorites and fighters who generally put on entertaining fights.

The main event of Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje almost guarantees fireworks, as you count the amount of bad fights these guys have had combined on one hand. In a way, the card being postponed from April 18th is a positive, since with time, the sting of losing Khabib-Tony for the fifth time has healed.  Ferguson is riding a twelve fight winning streak over the best of the lightweight division, while Gaethje is riding three consecutive first round knockouts over Vick, Barboza, and Cerrone. It's so hard to pick against Tony, since he has been a stylistic nightmare for everyone, and I expect his streak to continue tonight. The winner of this fight will hopefully have a date in the fall with Khabib. I'm hoping Endeavor's financial issues don't force the company's hand and give the title shot to Conor just yet.

The co-main event features Olympic gold medalist and champ-champ Henry Cejudo defending his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. The two-time former champion, Cruz, has had horrible injury luck in his career and is fighting for the first time since losing his title to Cody Garbrandt in December 2016. Cejudo won the flyweight title against Mighty Mouse in 2018 (himself and Cruz are the only two UFC fighters who were able to defeat DJ) and defeated Marlon Moraes in 2019 to get TJ Dillashaw's vacant bantamweight title and become a two division champ. My heart really wants to see Dominick Cruz beat the odds and complete one of the greatest comeback stories in sports. However, I think a four-year layoff and being thrown right into the fire against Cejudo is going to be too much to overcome.

The other co-main event is a battle between the two best knockout artists in the heavyweight division, Francis Ngannou and Jair Rozenstruick. After losing to Stipe Miocic and a lackluster performance against the Black Beast, Francis has won his last three fights in two minutes and 26 seconds. Jair is coming in with a 10-0 record, winning on a last second knockout against The Reem in December. Unfortunately, the heavyweight title is in limbo, with Stipe Miocic first out with an eye injury and now working his part time job as a firefighter in Cleveland. Daniel Cormier wants to complete his trilogy with Miocic over the summer, but is also eyeing retirement. An impressive performance by Jair or Francis can throw those plans aside. I'm picking Rozenstruick to get the upset, since I think he learned a lot being taken into deep waters by Overeem last time out.

UFC is also holding a rare weekday fight card on Wednesday headlined by Glover Teixeira v Anthony Smith and Ben Rothwell v Ovince St Preux and another show next Saturday headlined by Alistair Overeem v Walt Harris and Claudia Gadelha v Angela Hill. Hopefully all goes well this week, and we're back to seeing events every week again. Dana is still hyping up Fight Island for international fighters in June.

Pick 5 Challenge

I'm going to start holding myself accountable for these picks. To keep the math easy, I'm betting $100 on underdogs and the minus number on favorites to win $100.

(Updated 5/13 9 AM)

UFC 248 (2-3, -$70)

Tony Ferguson -210

Henry Cejudo -200

Jair Rozenstruick +215

Donald Cerrone +120

Aleksei Oleinik +240

5/13 (2-2 -$38)
Michael Johnson -110
Drew Dober -115
Marvin Vettori -180
Ovince St Preux -160
Glover Teixeira +132

5/16
Mara Romero Borella +124
Eryk Anders +112
Edson Barboza -135
Angela Hill +175
Alistair Overeem +128

Money in the Bank is on Sunday, and it will be closing a pretty bland post Mania month for WWE. Even with nothing else to do, I've felt like Raw and Smackdown have been a chore to get through lately. That being said, I'm excited to see what WWE can pull off here.

Both the men's and women's MITB are taking place at the same time, and will be pre-recorded and edited in a cinematic style. The 6 men and 6 women will start at the ground floor of Titan Towers, and fight their way to the roof where there is a ring and scaffolding where the briefcases are being hung.  The concept has me more intrigued, and with a small card, I expect the match to be close to an hour. It will be fun to see a tour inside of the WWE's offices while they partially destroy it. On Raw Monday, they were teasing that someone will be thrown off the roof and murdered (that's not PG). I'll go with Asuka and AJ Styles to grab their respective briefcases.

In addition to the MITB matches, Braun Strowman defends his title against Bray Wyatt, in a battle of former Wyatt Family members. I'd be shocked to see Braun lose in his first title defense in what should be a long feud until Roman Reigns can return. Also, I think the fact we're seeing Bray and not The Fiend is a clue that he won't be winning.

On the Raw side, Seth Rollins challenges for Drew McIntyre's newly won belt. This feud hasn't moved the needle for me and I can't really get behind either character. I'll go with Drew to retain his first title defense also.

UFC Top 15: Part One

Instead of being excited for a huge UFC event this weekend, the California Governor and Disney pussyfooted around, and unfortunately forced Dana White's hand. UFC 249 became just the fourth pay-per view event in company history to be canceled. It joins the infamous list below.

UFC 233 - The planned January 26, 2019 event was cancelled after it's planned main event of Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw was earmarked instead for the promotion's debut on ESPN+ that same month. In lieu of a replacement main event, the show was scrapped.

UFC 176 - The show, scheduled for August 2, 2014 was cancelled after Jose Aldo suffered an injury less than a month before the show.

UFC 151 - This show set the precedent of pay-per view events being cancelled due to a suitable main event. Scheduled for September 2, 2012 with a main event of Jon Jones and Dan Henderson was cancelled on August 23rd. After getting injured, Hendo had to pull out of the title match, and Jon Jones refused to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. The Sonnen fight eventually happened at UFC 159.

But don't you dare be sour, since it gave me time to reflect on my almost eleven year fandom of the sport of mixed martial arts. As we head into a freshly announced May 9th card that may or may not be the milestone UFC 250, I'm going to look back at the top 15 UFC events from UFC 100-248. This three week countdown will hopefully lead us into the May 9th supershow.

My list favors events of the past five years of the sport. The rise of Women's MMA has allowed the UFC to stack shows with multiple title fights, which was almost unheard of in the early 2010s. Going through some events, I was even surprised to see how many Pay Per Views went off without a title on the line.

15) UFC 229 -October 6th, 2018

UFC 229 was the culmination of one of the ugliest feuds in UFC history. Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov hatred for each other bubbled over after the now infamous UFC 223 press conference in Brooklyn, where Conor threw a dolly through a bus window to go after Khabib and his team. In McGregor's first fight back in the Octagon after almost two years, the Irishman looked rusty and was handily beaten by Khabib, eventually submitting in 3:03 of the fourth round. The fight itself took an immediate backseat to the post fight brawl, similar to Strikeforce Nashville incident, when Khabib attacked McGregor's teammate Dillon Danis. This caused all hell to break loose, and is still one of the most unforgettable moments in UFC history.

In the co-main event of this show, Tony Ferguson defeated Anthony Pettis due to a corner stoppage after the second round. That set up another potential for the Khabib-Tony superfight that had to get cancelled once again this month. On the undercard, the Black Beast won on a last second knockout and dropped the famous "My balls was hot" line during a post-fight interview with Rogan. Future light heavyweight challenger Dominick Reyes defeated OSP as well.

14) UFC 167 - November 16, 2013

UFC 167 will be remembered as the night the GOAT almost lost his welterweight crown. GSP was in the midst of his legendary 10 consecutive title defenses, and won a controversial decision over up and comer Johny Hendricks. In the shocking post-fight press conference, St Pierre gave his intentions that he would be walking away from the sport, and officially relinquished the belt on December 13th. Georges has only fought once since this event, defeating Michael Bisping for the middleweight title at UFC 217.

Johny Hendricks went on to defeat Robbie Lawler at UFC 171 to win the title in another controversial decision, and lost the immediate rematch at UFC 181. Hendricks would go on to lose five of his next seven fights and be cut by the UFC.

In the undercard, Rashad Evans knocked out Chael Sonnen in the first round. Robbie Lawler defeated Rory MacDonald by decision which eventually set up the war they'd have in the rematch. Future welterweight champ, Tyron Woodley, had his 3rd fight in the UFC knocking out Josh Koscheck.

13) UFC 202 - August 20, 2016

After suffering his first lost in the UFC to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, McGregor and Diaz had an insane brawl that is remembered as one of the best fights in the sports' history. Both warriors landed over 150 strikes over the course of five rounds, in which every judge gave Conor rounds 1, 2, and 4. The third round saw Diaz come close to finishing McGregor after getting him up against the cage and landing blow after blow. I hope we see a completion of this trilogy.

Personally, this was a memorable night for me. After seeing NXT Takeover in Brooklyn, I got back to Manhattan in time for the main event. Watching McGregor fight in an Irish bar a few blocks away from MSG was an awesome experience.

Fireworks were going off on the undercard, with every fight ending in a stoppage. Rumble Johnson defeated Glover Teixeira in :13 seconds in the co-main event. Donald Cerrone, Mike Perry, and Tim Means all won by TKO in this event.

12) UFC 165 - September 21, 2013

In his 6th light heavyweight title defense, Jon Jones and Alexander Gustaffson had one of the most exciting title fights in UFC history. The two men traded 244 significant strikes, which broke the record for a title fight. Jones' mettle was tested as the Swede became one of the first fighters to stand and trade with Bones, and even win two of the first three rounds. A spinning elbow in the fourth round sparked enough momentum in the championship rounds for Jones to retain the belt.

In the co-main event, Rena Barao knocked out Eddie Wineland with a vicious spinning head kick :35 into the second round to retain the interim bantamweight title. The card also featured future champ Khabib's fifth fight in the UFC defeating Pat Healy.

11) UFC 232 - December 29, 2018

In a card that was shrouded in controversy, after having to move from Vegas to Inglewood, CA on less than week's notice. Jon Jones tested for a minor amount of turinabol is his system, the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn't sanction his fight, so instead of cancelling his main event, Dana and the UFC just moved it.

In the rematch of UFC 165, Jones defeated Gustaffson in 2:02 of the third round landing a takedown and finishing Gustaffson with strikes from the top position. Unlike their first fight, Jone kept his distance from the Swede, and was much more calculating.

The co-main event featured Amanda Nunes stopping Cris Cyborg's twenty-fight (and 13 year) win streak in just :51. This fight cemented Nunes' female GOAT status, knocking off Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, and Valentina Shevchenko in a 24 month period.

On Tuesday night, Dana White gave MMA fans hope again, announcing a May 9th return to action. I'm cautiously optimistic about this, since I doubt the Baldfather would want to eat his shorts again after having to cancel the April 18th show. Crossing my fingers that we'll be getting fights at least once a week for the near future, since the UFC needs to fulfill 42 events this events this year. WWE opened the door for the UFC to hold events in Florida, with Governor Ron DeSantis announcing sporting events as essential business.

According to ESPN, the planned full fight card includes:

Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje -- Interim lightweight championship
Henry Cejudo (c) vs. Dominick Cruz -- Bantamweight championship
Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Felecia Spencer -- Women's featherweight championship
Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar

Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis
Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro
Alexei Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum
Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson
Ronaldo Souza vs. Uriah Hall
Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price

In addition to that good news, WWE Money in the Bank is confirmed to be on May 10th. The MITB Ladder matches will be taking a different turn this year, as Superstars have to climb the "Corporate Ladder" fighting from the ground floor to the roof of WWE HQ in Connecticut. The positive reaction of the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse Wrestlemania matches opened the door for more cinematic wrestling. AEW also confirmed the Double or Nothing PPV will go on as scheduled as an empty arena event on May 23rd. Hopefully team sports won't be too far behind.

Cuncel da UFC and Wrestlemania Review

After weeks of speculation, the plug was pulled on UFC 249 by Mickey fucking Mouse. Dana White held up his end of the bet,  putting an amazing fight card together and was ready to go next Saturday from Tachi Palace, a Native American casino in California. News broke Thursday night that executives at Disney, which own ESPN, forced the organization’s hand in postponing all events. The New York Times reported that the California Governor, Gavin Newsom, pleaded with Disney to get the show canceled.

This just flat out sucks. Caving to outside pressure so easily, I wish we can go back to the old days before the UFC got in bed with these big corporations, when MMA truly didn’t give a fuck. The virus that has only left us professional wrestling seems to be improving and even my guy  President Trump wants sports to lead the country’s push into coming back. Dana White’s brash attitude that I love, made him and the UFC an easy target by the mainstream media. Hopefully he learned that sometimes it’s better to fly under the radar like Vince McMahon and Tony Khan have done during this time. 

It’s hard to even speculate about anything at this time. Dana says that UFC Fight Island is still under construction and without any government intervention I can see ESPN being fine with letting events run there. In an interview with Bret Okamoto, White said he still wants to be the first sport to return to a normal schedule, and expects his island to be ready in a month. White also said the UFC will fulfill its contracted 42 events with ESPN this year. I’m sure there will be a lot more to this story to come. 

The next event on the sports calendar that looks to be a go is the NFL Draft. However, I’m already anticipating Joe Douglas is going to continue to ignore our biggest hole and not get Sam Darnold his number one receiver.  Why would we want to get CeeDee Lamb or Jerry Jeudy to replace Robby Anderson when we can be cheap and get Breshad Perriman and Josh Doctson instead. I pull my hair out thinking how we haven't drafted a first round receiver since Keyshawn and are always surprised our offense sucks. Much like Larry David’s friend Carl, after the last 24 hours I can’t take any more disappointment. 

The unprecedented circumstances around Wrestlemania 36 forced WWE to think outside the box and helped deliver a unique experience. The men and women behind the show did a great job of bringing some normalcy back and worked their asses off in a tough situation. Mania should be graded on a curve as I think history should look back fondly on this event.

Night One

This was my favorite of the two shows by a pretty wide margin. The show started slow with Alexa and Nikki winning the tag belts and Baron Corbin losing to Elias. Business picked up with a physical match between Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler. The finish was anticlimactic after Lynch rolled through the kirifuda clutch to pin Shayna. Becky had a similar fluke finish against Rousey last year at Mania, so I think there is more to come with this story.

Sammy Zayn retained the Intercontinental Title over Daniel Bryan in a fun match that saw interference from Drew Gulak, Nakamura, and Cesaro. The 3 Man ladder match between John Morrison, Jey Uso, and Kofi was my favorite of the whole weekend. The match was edited together well as they took some creative liberty on some spots to take advantage of the show being pretaped.  Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens was good also, but would’ve been better if it was No DQ to begin with and didn’t have to restart it. KO got his Wrestlemania moment jumping off the giant Wrestlemania pirate flag sign and splashing through Rollins on a table for the win.

Braun Strowman got his first heavyweight title with a win against Goldberg. I’m sort of getting tired of the spamming your finish match and it especially didn’t work in an empty arena. The Boneyard match was a great main event. The Undertaker and AJ Styles shot a movie action sequence in a graveyard that saw the return of the American Badass, with new Metallica entrance music (was Fred Durst too busy?). I don’t need to see Taker in a squared circle again, but this should become his new Wrestlemania tradition.

Night Two

The second night opened with Charlotte winning the NXT Women’s title over Rhea Ripley. The match was technically sound, but I don’t think a regular match should be going over 15 minutes in an empty arena. I still don’t understand why Aleister Black and Bobby Lashley got added to the main card except to just have 8 matches on each night. Otis finally got the girl after beating Dolph Ziggler. This has been one of the more entertaining storylines in the company and Mandy and Otis finally kissing would have gotten a huge pop.

I’m torn on the Last Man Standing match between Edge and Orton. It was the best match of night two, but it seems to drag on a little too much as they brawled all over the Performance Center. WWE has a crutch with these matches where you do a big spot and wait 9 seconds for the guy to get back up. After 36 minutes Edge won with some poetic justice hitting Orton with a con-chair-to. The Street Profits and Bayley retained their respective belts in pretty forgettable matches.

Forgettable is not a way I’d describe the Firefly Funhouse Match with John Cena and Bray Wyatt. Doing some research and watching it a second time, I understood the concept a little better and what they were trying to achieve. Check this out if you’re looking to see a more in depth explanation.    This was a journey through John Cena's subconscious.  The match is never really a match, instead scenes that tell the story of Cena's career. From his debut against Kurt Angle to Thuganomics, to Vince’s desire to make him another Hulk Hogan babyface. However, in this story when Cena beat Wyatt at Wrestlemania 30 he turned heel like when Hogan joined the NWO. That’s when The Fiend appears and wins with the mandible claw. When Cena cut his promo on Smackdown saying he’s putting an end to "the most overrated, overhyped superstar in WWE history", he was talking about himself and not Wyatt. I wouldn’t say this was “such good shit” like the Vince puppet but it was different and made you think.

The main event saw Drew McIntyre go over Brock in the usual Brock match. Having Paul Heyman at ringside adds so much to this style match and Brock’s selling is great when he’s putting someone over. I’m still not convinced McIntyre is the guy but it’ll be interesting to see some change in the main event picture.

WWE is taping another marathon session this weekend, starting with Friday’s Smackdown. It’s unknown if this will cover all TV leading to Money in the Bank on May 10th. The Raw after Wrestlemania was pretty weak, but I give them a pass since it was the last thing they taped several weeks ago. Hopefully the time off and the reaction to the more cinematic matches got Vince’s wheels turning and we get some good stuff in the coming weeks. It was also confirmed AEW has plenty of stuff in the can to keep churning out Dynamite through the end of May. It’s still unclear if they’re planning to have Double or Nothing continue as an empty arena PPV. In a world where all other sports are cancelled even bad pro wrestling is better than nothing.

Wrestlemania 36 Preview

This will be Showcase of the Immortals we will never forget. With everyone stuck in their houses, Vince McMahon and the WWE will give everyone a great distraction with two nights of Wrestlemania. Under these difficult circumstances, my expectations are lower than usual, but I'm also intrigued by what WWE will do to make this show feel special. I know I'll be getting some takeout from B-Dubs and drinking some Steveweisers on my couch the next two nights.

The two-night extravaganza is loaded with 16 matches, but WWE hasn't revealed which matches would take place on each night yet.  I'll give a quick break down and prediction of the ten matches I'm most interested in.

1) Edge def Randy Orton - Last Man Standing Match

This has been the best program of Wrestlemania season, with both guys cutting great promos. I’ve always been an Edgehead and I’m excited for his first singles match back in the squared circle. A motivated Randy Orton is capable of putting together a great match as well. I can see this match being similar to the Shawn Michaels-HHH match from Summerslam 2002, where Edge wins but Orton attacks him after the match to keep the feud alive.


2) Kofi Kingston def Usos and Morrison (c) - Smackdown Tag Team Championship Ladder Match

There’s a history of classic ladder matches at Wrestlemania and I think this has a chance to steal the show. The match changed from a tag team to a 3-way singles match for the titles after The Miz became ill before the taping. I think Kofi can use a big singles win after being mostly ignored since losing the strap to Brock.

3) The Fiend def John Cena - Firefly Funhouse Match

This is a match that I'm looking forward to because it was filmed off location, at Bray Wyatt's creepy Pee Wee's Playhouse. Hopefully WWE learned from the mistakes of Bray and Orton's House of Horror match, and can use the cinematic post-production to enhance the match. Luckily, they found famous actor John Cena to compete while Fast Nine is on hiatus. I'm sure we'll see appearances from all of The Fiend's puppet friends as well.

4) Undertaker def AJ Styles - Boneyard Match

The Boneyard allows this match to get out of the Performance Center and into a presumed graveyard, for what sounds like a modern day Buried Alive match. The bells and whistles will help hide the Undertaker’s weaknesses and accentuate his positives. This should be a fun brawl. I've enjoyed this feud with AJ and Undertaker doing some worked shoot promos, including Styles calling Undertaker by his real name "Mark", gasp.

5) Brock Lesnar (c) def Drew McIntyre - World Heavyweight Championship

Drew McIntyre earned his title shot after winning the 2020 Royal Rumble, being the man to toss Brock over the top rope after he eliminated 13 men. This just doesn't seem like a Wrestlemania title match to me. Drew worked his ass off after being released from WWE in 2014, but he still doesn't move the needle for me. Maybe this is a biased pick, but I'm hoping the Beast Incarnate retains.

6) Braun Strowman def Goldberg (c) - Universal Championship

This title match has taken several backstage twists and turns. The original plan was for The Fiend to defend the title for another Roman Reigns Wrestlemania coronation. McMahon, probably fearing the Big Dog would get booed again beating hardcore fan favorite Wyatt, brought back 53 year old Goldberg to win the title in Saudi Arabia. Then, Reigns pulled out of the match over concern for his health last week, and it was rumored Braun was penciled in as a last minute replacement.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani this week, Triple H said everything would make sense from a storyline standpoint. Instead, last night on Smackdown Michael Cole just announced the change in a throwaway segment. Either WWE scrapped an angle since everyone knew, or there really wasn't a plan in the first place. I think you need to strap the rocket on Braun after having him lose in big matches too often. Also, I think don't see Goldberg being able to carry the Blue Brand much longer.

7) Shayna Baszler def Becky Lynch (c) - Raw Women's Championship

Former NXT Women's Champion and UFC fighter, Baszler gets her Wrestlemania moment after winning the Women's Elimination Chamber last month. After a weird angle where Shayna bit Becky's neck like a vampire, the two women have cut some intense promos. I’m thinking Ronda Rousey returns to help her friend Shayna win the belt on the anniversary of the event where she lost the strap to The Man.

8) Daniel Bryan def Sami Zayn (c) - Intercontinental Championship

This feels like a prototypical Wrestlemania opening match between two great workers. Daniel Bryan is back as a babyface, and I can see him carrying the Intercontinental Title for a while.

9) Rhea Ripley (c) def Charlotte Flair - NXT Women's Championship

This has been a pretty boring storyline, with Charlotte winning the Rumble and deciding to challenge the NXT Women's Champion Ripley. I can’t see Charlotte going back to NXT on a regular basis despite the battle with AEW on Wednesday nights. Both women are good in the ring, and should have an entertaining match.

10) Kevin Owens def Seth Rollins

I can see this match being the opener for the other night of Mania. I'm just ready for this feud to end. Since December it seems like the Monday Night Messiah's faction with AOP and Buddy Murphy have been wrestling KO and a random assortment of friends on every Raw. I think the babyface Owens goes over.

Rest of the Card
Sasha Banks def Bayley (c) , Tamina, Lacey Evans, Naomi - Smackdown Women's Championship
Otis def Dolph Ziggler
Aleister Black def Lashley
Street Profits (c) def Austin Theory and Angel Garza - Raw Tag Team Championship
Elias def King Corbin
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross def The Kabuki Warriors (c) - Women's Tag Team Championship

After winning the first 2 rounds in UFC 249 vs COVID, Dana and company lost the 3rd round 10-8 and now are even, 28-28, going into the championship rounds.  In a wild five days, Khabib on an Instagram Monday said that he was stuck in Russia, and wouldn't be able to fight in the main event. 

“Staying home in quarantine and reading the reaction of people to the situation around my fight, it turns out that the whole world should be in quarantine, governments of all countries, famous people around the world urge people to follow all safety requirements in order to limit the spread of the disease, to save people, and Khabib is the only one relieved of all obligations and must demonstrate free will and train flying around the world, for the sake of fight?”

Dana White was quiet this week, just saying  Everyone knew he’s not fighting,”. Then Thursday, Khabib backtracked, saying: 

"One-hundred percent I’m gonna fight. Just give me location. Everyday I send Dana White message: ‘Hey, where’s my location?’ You know, like this is not my mistake, and you know, too many crazy stuff, too many questions. I don’t have answer. Like I understand people upset because this fight is like dream fight for fans.”

There are also rumors Justin Gaethje may step in as a last minute replacement against Tony Ferguson, or Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal being a replacement main event. At this point, if Dana White put together any five fight pay per view he can charge triple the normal event price, and I'd buy it without thinking twice.

Combat Sports v Coronavirus Round 2

We can take a deep breath for now as WWE was able to complete it's ambitious taping schedule at the Performance Center this week. While the rest of sports world is on hiatus, pro wrestling fans can count on 2 Raws, 2 NXTs, and next week's Smackdown, in addition to the Grandaddy of Em All, Wrestlemania, on both next Saturday and Sunday for the first time ever. As it stands, Friday Night Smackdown on April 10th would be the next possible live event for WWE.

The Wrestlemania card did take a couple of losses, first reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Roman Reigns cautiously bowed out of his Universal Championship main event with Goldberg due to growing concern over the coronavirus. Reigns had a much publicized battle with Leukemia in 2018, and took the smart and safer route of not performing during this time. Braun Strowman is replacing the four-time WWE Champion at Mania. I wish Reigns all the best, and look forward to seeing him perform when it is safe to do so.

In addition to Roman, The Miz is out of the Smackdown Tag Team Title Ladder Match 3 way with the New Day and Usos with an unreported illness. Andrade has also been scratched from the Raw Tag Team Title match due to an injury he sustained at Raw on Monday. Meltzer has also refuted the Reddit rumors that Kevin Owens, Edge, and Asuka were off the card as well, and confirmed their matches all took place as scheduled.

Two new stipulations were added to The Showcase of the Immortals this week. The Undertaker and AJ Styles will fight in a Boneyard Brawl, and John Cena and The Fiend's match will be in the Firefly Funhouse. This is one of the few times WWE can let matchups be a little more creative by having them take place outside the arena since there isn't a live audience that would grow restless watching a screen. I'm sure WWE post-production will be able to add a lot to these particular matches since Undertaker and Cena are no longer in their prime, as full-time performers.

NXT is making the best of a bad situation as well. With the postponement of Takeover Tampa, matches that were scheduled for that event were taped to air on the NXT TV show Wednesday Nights the next two weeks. On the April 1st episode, a Triple Threat for the NXT North American Title will take place between Keith Lee, Domnik Dijakovic, and Damian Priest. Then, on the April 8th show, the Six Women #1 Contender Ladder Match and the final blowoff of the Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano feud will take place The two and a half year feud between them has been a highlight of NXT, and it is going to be interesting to see where they go from here.

AEW is taking the chance going live for Dynamite every week still with a limited roster in Daliy's Place in Jacksonville. International wrestlers, like Pac and Lucha Bros, as well as talent from California, including the Young Bucks and SCU weren't at the show this week. This past Wednesday's show was supposed to be Blood and Guts in Newark , pour out a Lil Bit of the Bubbly for me :( but instead was highlighted by a confrontation between Chris Jericho and Broken Matt Hardy. Both these guys have great comedic timing, and it was a lighthearted moment I think everyone needed. Some of the highlights were Jericho cutting a promo on Vanguard One (Hardy's drone) and Hardy saying the empty amphitheater was filled with spirits of George Washington,Martin Luther King, and Judas.

Dana White continued his battle against the media this week with some more hilarious quotes, including a must-listen interview with Barstool Sports' Bob Fox. In spite of some the controversy the media is trying to stir up, the UFC President vows to move on with April 18th's UFC 249 card, headlined by Tony and Khabib, in a move I wholeheartedly agree with.

“I’m not telling the media anything! Fuck you! Every day when I wake up, there’s a bullshit story. Or somebody doesn’t like this, somebody doesn’t like that. I don’t give a fuck what you think. On April 18th, you either wanna turn on the TV and watch this fight, or you don’t.”

"How long are we really going to stay in our houses and hide? If the coronavirus is what's going to get me, then so be it. I mean, it is what it is. Heart disease, car accidents, cancer — the list goes on and on of all these things that kill people every year. One thing is guaranteed: We're all gonna die of something. ... You can't be somebody who's gonna hide in your house." 

Dana is working on making UFC 249 the "Baddest Card Ever", including adding fights from the previous three postponed events. A potential combination of any of the below fights would be a great way for the organization to return to normalcy, as White said he plans all events after April 18th to continue as scheduled.

Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs Tony Ferguson
Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Tyron Woodley vs Colby Covington
Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas
Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar
Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris
Magomed Ankalaev vs Ion Cuțelaba
Uriah Hall vs Jacare Souza
Lyman Good vs Belal Muhammad

Lockdownmania

After what has been a crazy week in professional sports, with March Madness, NBA, NHL, MLB, and XFL being either outright cancelled or postponed, pro wrestling and MMA have tried their best to keep entertaining all of us. Vince McMahon and Dana White are two of my personal idols for their "show must go on" mentality and not being afraid to stand up to criticism. Those two qualities were tested perhaps more than ever this week.

Last Friday night's Smackdown began the era of no fans for either sport. While it hasn't been completely smooth, it's a welcome distraction from everything else going on. After three shows (NXT was a recap show), it's apparent WWE is attempting to book shows the same with the wrestlers playing to a crowd of empty seats. I felt that AEW's Dynamite on Wednesday was better since they sat a group of heels and faces on opposites sides of the ring to heckle and cheer the performers. AEW also moved their hard camera to face the entrance ramp, while WWE's production has stayed the same, showing the empty ringside seats. UFC's Fight Night on Saturday wasn't as unusual since it felt like a fight from The Ultimate Fighter. 

In a situation that is still fluid, reports are that WWE is planning to pre-tape several matches to air on Raw and Smackdown over the weekend, which I'm sure will be edited with some of their video packages hyping up Wrestlemania 36. 

Speaking of Wrestlemania, the Showcase of the Immortals, which was set to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 5th is going to be unique. Instead of holding their annual supershow in front of 80,000 screaming die hard fans, Vince McMahon made the decision to tape the show at their Performance Center in Orlando on a closed set. Not only will this be the first Mania to be held with no fans, but it will take place over the course of two nights and be pre-taped as well.

Not going to lie, my gut reaction to hearing that news was that it would be a complete clusterfuck. Raw and Smackdown matches have been tolerable at best in this situation, as crowd reaction plays a huge part in a pro wrestling match. Also, all the pomp and circumstance of Wrestlemania, the larger than life set, the over the top entrances, and who can forget pyro that put your town's shitty 4th of July to shame, won't be there this year.

However, after thinking on this a little more, it's the only logical thing WWE can do at this moment. Nobody has any clue how long it will take before things start to normalize again, especially holding a stadium event. The main event matches and storylines are set already, and I feel keeping the creative in limbo won't work either. If WWE is able to continue to hold these empty arena shows to honor their TV contracts with Fox and USA, along with the monthly network specials, getting Wrestlemania over with and chalk it up to a horrible situation is your best option.

WWE's decision to hold the show over two nights proves my thinking that WWE knows the Performance Center shows aren't great, but it's better than nothing. Watching a 7+ hour show would seem even more tedious in that regard, so spreading the event into two 3+ hour events is the best way to go.  In fact, it would've been nice to spend two nights at Metlife last year instead of being stuck in Secaucus Station at 1 AM. The postponement of the Hall of Fame and NXT Takeover also clears up more time for Network content.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has reported that WWE is taping Wrestlemania this week as well, and is trying to get as creative as possible to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. They're considering going as far as taping matches at different locations with unique stipulations. Think of the Hollywood Backlot Brawl at Wrestlemania 12 with Roddy Piper and Goldust.

While no further details have come out yet, this is how a proposed card would look if they separate Raw and Smackdown matches. 

Brock Lesnar v Drew McIntyre - Raw Mens Title

Becky Lynch v Shayna Baszler - Raw Womens Title 

Charlotte Flair v Rhea Ripley - NXT Womens Title

Edge v Randy Orton

AJ Styles v The Undertaker

Seth Rollins v Kevin Owens

Goldberg v Roman Reigns - Smackdown Mens Title

Bayley v Sasha v Naomi v Dana v Lacey v Tamina - Smackdown Womens Title

The Fiend v John Cena

Elias w/Gronk v Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn v Daniel Bryan

Otis v Dolph Ziggler

Seeing the cards on paper, the Raw side looks much stronger, so I would advise against doing this. I'm curious if we will also see any of the postponed Takeover matches added to this card. Also of note, the annual Mens and Womens Battle Royals have been scrapped for social distancing guidelines. I will be back with a full preview of Wrestlemania as we get more details. 

For MMA fans, this week was more par for the course of the crazy sport we love so much. From the early days of an event moving overnight from New York to Alabama due to the state athletic commission banning the sport, to as recent as UFC 232 in 2018 having to move an event from Vegas to California on a weeks notice after Jon Jones had one of his many issues with picograms, along with plenty of hiccups in between. Dana White and the UFC brass were finally dealt a roadblock they couldn't move.

After holding Saturday's UFC Brasilia card without fans, Dana White promised fans the fights would continue until government restrictions made it impossible. Today's scheduled London show was going to be moved an Indian Reservation in the US where the Athletic Commission's won't have as much authority. They were even working on replacing London native Leon Edwards from the main event against Tyron Woodley, with Colby Covington. White also planned on holding the March 28 and April 11 shows at the UFC Apex, a personal studio inside company's Headquarters in Vegas. However, a few days after President Trump banned all gatherings of more than 10 people, making the shows impossible.

The next scheduled event, UFC 249 is headlined by the superfight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. UFC fans have been waiting five years for the "cursed" fight, as the matchup has been scrapped four times before due to injuries after it was announced. Dana White promises fans the event is sill on for April 18th, even if it isn't the US. White's relationship with President Trump can hopefully be enough to find a loophole for this event.

The backlash of the MMA media from those comments led to another great Dana White diatribe on Friday:

“Think about this: Go online and look at some of these people – and this isn’t a knock, this is just a fact: The weakest, wimpiest people on earth cover the biggest, baddest sport on earth. What do you expect them to say? What do you think they’re gonna say?

I have over 350 employees who work for me. Multi-billion-dollar companies are laying off all their employees right now. We haven’t laid off one person at the UFC. And every fighter that fights for me will fight three times this year. Our schedule will go on. Everybody’s gonna get paid, and we will figure this out, and we will be the first sport back on. And, uh, fuck that shit. Everything will go on.”

I completely agree with Dana. The holier than thou attitude of some MMA media members can get overbearing sometimes. These are professional cage fighters, their occupation is much more dangerous than any potential virus. I'm crossing my fingers we still have a great scrap to preview in four weeks.

The Notorious Return and Championship Sunday Predictions

Sports fans love a good redemption story, and Conor McGregor has a chance to write the first chapter tonight in Vegas at UFC 246. After winning nine of his first ten UFC fights in a 3 and half year span, and skyrocketing to superstardom, the Irishman has dealt with a lot of adversity both inside and outside the Octagon. After defeating Eddie Alvarez in UFC's debut event at MSG in November 2016, which was arguably one of his best performances, Conor has only fought twice. After losing to Floyd Mayweather in August 2017 in a boxing match, he lost to Khabib in October 2018 following an ugly feud.

While I agree, that McGregor let the fame and his partying ways get out of hand, I question the validity of the sexual assault accusations thrown his way. Say what you will about Dana White and the UFC brass, but they've had a history of acting swiftly against fighters accused of domestic violence. On top of that, do you really think ESPN, which is owned by Disney, didn't do their due diligence before this fight in the #MeToo era? 

The Conor that we're seeing now appears to be grown up and humbled by everything that has happened in the past three and half years. His interview with Ariel Helwani McGregor was much more subdued. He seems very focused on his training and is talking about his 2020 season, where he hopes to fight at least three times. Fighters are still lining up to call him out, hoping for a "red panty night".

Everything begins tonight with a bout against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Cowboy has been fighting under the Zuffa banner since 2007, and owns the record for most wins, finishes, and bonuses in UFC history. The 36 year old was seeing a career resurgence before losing his last two fights to Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. In spite of all his successes, Cerrone is 0-3 in championship fights, and was never able to get over the hump of taking out a top dog. Cerrone is the perfect opponent for a returning McGregor, as he also would rather take part in a firefight than a grappling match, and he has shown a history of struggling against southpaws.

While this is a very winnable fight for McGregor, it won't be a cakewalk. It is smart from a business standpoint to let the Irishman get his feet under him against a grizzly veteran before moving on to the elite of the lightweight and/or welterweight division. I feel like the Vegas odds are pretty fair at -295 for McGregor tonight.

Unfortunately, outside of the main event there isn't much to get too excited about tonight. Only one other fight on the main card,  the co-main of Raquel Pennington +111 and Holly Holm,  is between two top 15 ranked fighters. I personally feel like Holm is still overrated after her knockout win against Rousey, and Rocky offers some good value. In other notable action, Anthony Pettis is moving back down to lightweight in the pay-per view opener as a live +185 dog against Diego Ferreira. In the featured prelim bout, future women's flyweight star, Maycee Barber, 8-0 with 7 stoppages, is a -1,000 favorite against Roxanne Modafferi.

Titans +7 and Under 52.25 - Mike Vrabel followed a huge upset win over mentor Bill Bellichick by taking out the Super Bowl favorite Ravens. Meanwhile, Kansas City, who benefitted from a first round bye thanks to the Dolphins in Week 17, slept walked through the first quarter and still beat the Texans by 20. As unlikely as it seemed a few weeks ago, the Chiefs get to host the AFC Championship game in Arrowhead tomorrow. 

This game will one of two ways, either Tractorcito can get going against the Chiefs 26th ranked run defense while Tennessee controls the clock and limits how long has Mahomes has the ball. Or, the Chiefs get to an early lead and force Ryan Tannehill to beat them. The Titans have personally made me a  believer, and while I think the Chiefs still find a way to win, I'm taking the Titans getting a touchdown.

Chiefs 24 Titans 20

Packers +260 and Over 46.5 - On November 24th, the Niners gave Rodgers and the Packers a drubbing on National TV, 37-8. Now, the two teams will rematch in the NFC Championship Game after winning at home last weekend. This is very reminiscent to me of the 2011 Divisional Round game between the Jets and Patriots. Rex Ryan buried the game ball after an embarrassing Monday Night loss in the regular season and the Jets upset the Pats in Foxboro. 

I find it hard to believe that Rodgers and Matt LaFluer haven't been stewing about that loss for almost two months hoping to get their chance at revenge in January. I think we see a vintage Rodgers performance along with Davante Adams continuing his dominance of the past four weeks. If Green Bay can take the Niners off their offensive schedule and force Jimmy G to make plays late in the game they can win on Sunday, and getting us a Super Bowl matchup of Mahomes-Rodgers.

Packers 31 49ers 24