UFC 249 Free betting guide, tips, odds, preview and statistics

UFC

Proper sport is back with a bang this weekend.

There have been small scraps for punters to feed on since the coronavirus ripped through the sporting calendar in mid-March with Belarus keeping the football show on the road, minor golf tournaments popping up and a consistent stream of home darts events on webcams.

However, UFC supremo Dana White has been working tirelessly to find a way to keep the MMA show on the road and finally has a venue in Jacksonville with Florida paying host to the main event between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.

Ferguson was due to meet Khabib Nurmagomedov but the Russian has been unable to travel due to lockdown restrictions, meaning Gaethje was drafted in before the original April 18 event was eventually postponed after White controversially tried to stage the card during the pandemic.

BT Sport will broadcast UFC 249, and with it amalgamating with UFC 250, it is stacked with big fights that is sure to go down well with sport-starved fans around the globe.

Ferguson versus Gaethje is scheduled to start around 5am UK time and should be explosive with the fight 4-1 to go the distance.

The 8-11 it does not go beyond 2.5 rounds could be popular given the respective records of the two combat performers, while White, never one to undersell his event, was probably on the money when he predicted this will be "one of the most violent fights you will ever see."

Only two of Gaethje's 23 fights have gone the distance and the 8-5 outsider, who is nicknamed the Highlight, has finished his last three bouts in the first round.

Highlight is a dangerous customer because he has the potential to spark anyone out and is probably going to attempt to get into a brawl because the unorthodox Ferguson has superior grappling skills.

El Cucuy, the 4-7 favourite who has been popular in the early betting to win the lightweight interim title bout, has not suffered a defeat since May 2012 and is on a run of 12 straight victories.

Ferguson has a significant reach advantage of over six inches and is ranked number one in the division behind champion Khabib with Dustin Poirier at two, Conor McGregor is three and Gaethje, who joined UFC from World Series of Fighting in 2017, comes next.

This could be closer than the odds suggest.

Elsewhere, Henry Cejudo (4-9) takes on Dominick Cruz (15-8), Francis Ngannou (4-11) faces Jairzinho Rozenstruik (5-2), Jeremy Stephens (2-1) meets Calvin Kattar (2-5) and controversial former NFL star Greg Hardy (1-2) is up against Yorgan De Castro (7-4) in the other Main Card fights.

Cejudo, third in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings behind Jon Jones and Khabib, won gold for USA in Freestyle Wrestling at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and should oblige for favourite backers given 35-year-old Cruz is having his first fight since December 2016.

Not much stands out in the Kattar contest but Hardy has been well backed to beat De Castro and that gamble looks well placed.

Ngannou's last seven wins have all come in the first round and the man ranked two in the heavyweight category is 7-4 for another swift victory.

White is keeping the UFC bandwagon rolling with another seven fights on the undercard, while further events are pencilled in at the same VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday May 13 and Saturday May 16.

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