Today’s UFC 249 event felt strange on many levels. It certainly looked weird watching fighters walk in to empty stadiums devoid of thousands of screaming fans.

What today’s experimental event did prove though, at least to me, is that an empty stadium doesn’t detract from the televised viewing experience.

It certainly helped that a lot of the fights were exciting. Five of the eleven fights ended by KO/TKO – and most of the remaining fights that went to a split decision were exciting affairs.

As a big MMA fan, it was just great watching fights again. It probably also helped that four of the five main card fights ended with a stoppage, including a classic Francis Ngannou performance that saw him throw caution to the wind in a 20-second annihilation of Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

The co-main event was a great affair, too. Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz put on a good fight, and I felt that Cejudo certainly was winning before the stoppage with two seconds left in the second round. That stoppage did feel a bit early, considering that Cruz was actively working toward recovering, but that initial knee and then blitz of ground strikes by Cejudo looked terrifying.

Cejudo’s surprise retirement speech at the end of the fight was stunning. It’s rare for a fighter on the top of his game to retire after a victory, and at 33 years old he certainly would have been able to look to a few more good years in the octagon.

Personally, I was pretty happy to see it. Cejudo mentioned wanting to spend more time with his family, and that he had been working so hard since he was a young kid toward being an elite athlete. If I were to speculate, I’d say that the COVID-19 situation around the globe may have also given him a new outlook on what’s really important to him. Honestly, I just hope that he sticks to retirement and doesn’t try to come back later when he’s not as physically or mentally sharp.

The main event between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje was a hell of a way to close out UFC 249. Ferguson built himself a well-deserved reputation as someone who beats opponents into a bloody mess, but he finally found his match today.

Today’s version of Gaethje was focused, patient, and deadly. Other than a knockdown suffered before the end of the second round, you can make the case that Gaethje controlled the rest of the fight.

Gaethje showed a lot more discipline this time around, and looked to avoid situations where he could be caught rushing in. He used a mix of brutal leg kicks and efficient striking to bloody and bruise his opponent.

By the time the fight was stopped by Herb Dean in the fifth round, it was clear that Gaethje was going to win the fight.

By the end, Ferguson was the one with a rearranged face, and the last strikes that he absorbed left him shaking his head and on clearly wobbly legs. Unlike the previous bout, I felt that this stoppage was completely justified and an excellent display of refereeing.

To his credit, Ferguson only furthered his inhuman legend with the amount of shots that he was able to eat. He took a ton of hard combos and clean strikes that had put away many of Gaethje’s previous opponents. The fact that the fight had to be stopped with Ferguson still on his was also proof that sometimes fighters need to be saved from themselves in a fight. He just didn’t want to seem to let himself get knocked out, which could have been a recipe for permanent damage if the fight continued.

I hope the UFC can continue to put on exciting events like today, because they proved that a non team-based sport is still as exciting for people watching at home. I look forward to the next event coming up in a few days.