The month of July is a light-weight 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 huge, MMA‘s prime promotion placed on a beautiful present Saturday night time.
UFC Denver was a homecoming of types for Dana White’s promotion. Saturday’s occasion was the primary UFC Combat Night time card to be held inside Ball Heart for the reason that 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 gave the impression to be fractured.
UFC Nearly Didn’t Go Again to Denver
There was concern previously that the UFC would possibly 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 might love to return to Colorado, however you need to have the fitting 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 (also called UFC 1: Within the Starting) and UFC 2 (retroactively retitled UFC 2: No Approach 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. Whenever you consider the undercard of an MMA present, you get an thought in your head of what the dimensions of the gang is likely to be.
Apart from just a few diehard followers of the game, not very many individuals are within the venue. On condition that the promotion hadn’t been there for the reason that silver anniversary card in 2018, it’s not a shock that the followers confirmed up and confirmed out early within the night and stored the vitality going for the complete six-hours plus that the cardboard lasted.
It was a profitable night time for the gang, and by extension, the UFC as a complete. Figures launched after the principle 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 loads to roar about, as effectively, throughout Saturday’s present, together with an electrifying end late within the prelims. In case 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 battle, 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 flooring Blackshear, with referee Nick Berens ending the battle 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 battle might change into probably the greatest knockouts of 2024 by the point December hits.
Cortez No Match for Namajunas in Headlining Affair
Your essential occasion of the night noticed Rose Namajunas tackle Tracy Cortez in a girls’s flyweight affair. “Thug Rose” stored 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 battle, Namajunas was the hardest buyer within the store, utilizing her floor sport to pacify her adversary, who made her essential occasion debut this weekend. Merely put, this was a medical efficiency for the previous champion at strawweight.
Together with her unanimous determination victory over Cortez, count on 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 battle, she may very well be a challenger for the 125-lb. belt versus Alexa Grasso sooner or later in 2025.
Last Ideas
If Ball Heart 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 a number of the UFC Combat Night time playing cards don’t stay as much as followers’ expectations, this was a fantastic outing for the promotion.
Hopefully, UFC CEO Dana White shortlists Ball Heart as a possible host web site 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.
