Getty Tony Ferguson will face Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 249 on Saturday night.
A pair of championship bouts are on the card as fighters return to the octagon for UFC 249 from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, this Saturday.
The prelims (6 p.m. ET start time) can watched on ESPN or ESPN+, while the main PPV card (10 p.m. ET) can only be ordered through ESPN+. Pricing of the PPV depends on whether or not you’re already an ESPN+ subscriber, so here’s a full rundown of your options:
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How to Order UFC 249 If You Don’t Have ESPN+
You can get a special bundle deal that includes a one-year subscription to ESPN+ ($49.99 value) and UFC 249 ($64.99 value) for $84.98, which works out to about 26 percent savings:
Or, if you want to purchase them separately, you can first subscribe to a month of ESPN+ right here ($4.99 for ESPN+, or $12.99 for a bundle of ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+), and then follow the below directions for existing ESPN+ subscribers.
However, with the amount of UFC (and other sports) content on ESPN+, most MMA fans are probably going to keep ESPN+ long-term, meaning the value of the bundle is the better way to go if you don’t already have ESPN+.
How to Order UFC 249 If You Already Have ESPN+
Current ESPN+ subscribers can purchase the UFC 249 PPV by itself right here. Make sure you’re logged into your ESPN+ account, then select the “Only looking for UFC 249? Get it for $64.99 here” link:
Additionally, if you want the special bundle price, you can still get it even if you’re already an ESPN+ subscriber. The only difference is instead of starting a new ESPN+ subscription, you’ll just extend your current subscription by a year and get the UFC 249 PPV for a total of $84.98. You can get that bundle right here:
Where to Watch UFC 249
Once you’re signed up for ESPN+ and you’ve purchased the PPV, there are a number of different ways you can watch Ferguson vs Gaethje and the complete UFC 249 main card.
You can watch the fights on your computer via ESPN.com, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
For all of those options, you’ll need to sign in with your ESPN+ account to watch both the prelims (ESPN+) and the main card (ESPN+ PPV).
UFC 249 Preview
After being away for nearly two months, the UFC will kick back into gear from Florida with a stacked card. Here is the full slate of fights, headlined by Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gathje for the interim lightweight belt.
- Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje: Interim lightweight title fight
- Henry Cejudo (champ) vs. Dominick Cruz: bantamweight title fight
- Francis Ngannou vs. Jair Rozenstruik: Heavyweight
- Calvin Kattar vs. Jeremy Stephens: Featherweight
- Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro: Heavyweight
- Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone: Welterweight
- Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price: Welterweigh
- Fabricio Werdum vs. Aleksei Oleinik: Heavyweight
- Ronaldo Souza vs. Uriah Hall: Middleweight
- Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson:- Women’s strawweight
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Charles Rosa: Featherweight
- Ryan Spann vs. Sam Alvey: Light heavyweight
Ferguson was originally scheduled to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he has been unable to leave Russia. Cejudo is defending his title for the first time against Dominick Cruz, who hasn’t fought since losing to Cody Garbrandt in 2016. That ended a streak of 13 consecutive wins for Cruz.
There are some questions about holding a contact sports event during an epidemic, but UFC president Dana White thinks he has it figured out.
“I would say the worst is people think I’m out there saying I don’t care about the coronavirus and we’re going to do this anyway,” White said, per CBS Sports. “We know how serious the coronavirus is. We’re taking it very serious. Health and safety didn’t just pop up for us a few weeks ago with the coronavirus, it has always a concern for us for the last 20 years. I’m one of these type of people who likes to figure out: how do we solve this problem instead of running and hiding from it? I think we’ve got it figured out.
“Nothing is 100 percent guaranteed, but … are you telling me they couldn’t golf right now? They couldn’t do a live golf match on TV? Of course they could. The reality is, the powers-that-be in golf are afraid of the media. I’m not afraid of the media.”
White is hoping the UFC’s actions will spur other professional sports to get rolling safetly.
“What I’m kind of hoping is this gives other sports leagues the confidence to get out there and do what I’m doing and figure this thing out in how to put on a sport as safely as you possibly can,” White said. “I submitted a 30-page document to the governor of Nevada and the governor of Florida, and I would be willing to share that document with any of the other leagues after we pull this thing off next week.”
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