The UFC celebrates its second historic milestone in the space of five months this weekend.
Last November, the premier mixed martial arts promotion celebrated the 30th anniversary of its inaugural event – UFC 1.
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And the MMA leader will once again reflect on another important moment tomorrow morning at UFC 300.
Its 300th pay-per-view card, fittingly, takes place in the promotion’s spiritual and physical home – Las Vegas.
The 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena will host the iconic event, just as it did at UFC 200 seven years ago.
But unlike the build-up to 200, UFC 300 was subjected to criticism at the highest level.
The intense dissection and scrutiny of the card reached a fever pitch after the main event was announced in February.
Fans were furious when it was revealed that new favorite Alex Pereira would defend the light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill in a fight worthy of any PPV.
The faceless Twitter Gutter-dwelling trolls and content creators who claim to truly love the sport, not just for its big names, have unfairly targeted the pair for having been given the opportunity of a lifetime.
And they did this without taking into account the INSANE series of fights that will precede the last dust in the desert of night.
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A huge TWELVE former or current champions will be in action at T-Mobile.
And if the trolls and critics cared to crunch the numbers, they would realize that they are seeing a large portion of the elite athletes who have worn UFC gold compete on the same night.
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UFC 300 – Alex Pereira x Jamahal Hill: how to watch the landmark Las Vegas event
Little more than TEN PER CENT of fighters who have already reached the pinnacle of the sport will be in action this weekend.
I would have laughed in your face just five years ago if you had told me – an MMA fan for nearly two decades – that a card featuring a host of past or current champions and several fan favorites would come together.
And for good reason, as the UFC has a history of staggering their talent to ensure they don’t have any limited pay-per-view events.
But here we are, just hours away from a huge showcase of some of the best to ever do it in their respective divisions.
My mention of the stacked nature of the card, however, is in no way a put-down for the promotion, as I and many others believe UFC 300 could have been bigger.
Needless to say, the promotion missed an open goal by not having the biggest star in the history of the sport at the top of the list.
Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return should have headlined the card, but there is no alternative.
Dana White and Co. would have been printed money The Notorious’ return clash with Michael Chandler was the main event of the weekend.
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But they obviously have other plans for their poster boy, who appears to be returning in the future. summer.
I can see why casual and hardcore UFC fans alike felt led down the garden path by White, who has repeatedly promised to deliver a mind-blowing main event.
And for all intents and purposes, he tried to do so – with his pursuit of Leon Edwards’ fights against Khamzat Chimaev and lightweight king Islam Makhachev a testament to that fact.
Another piece of evidence was White’s attempt to organize a middleweight title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.
It’s no secret that certain sections of the MMA fanbase hang on the veteran promoter’s every word.
But it’s safe to say that many of them had unrealistic and, frankly, absurd expectations for UFC 300, given the various divisions’ respective scenarios.
Some truly deluded fans – and believe me, there are a lot of them – honestly thought the UFC would bring back the likes of Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey and Georges St-Pierre for the card.
This was despite White having managed CRYSTAL CLEAR there would be no WWE-style comebacks for the trio – who are all enjoying their respective retirements from the sport – months before the card’s first fight is announced.
Ultimately, what White promised us was a card that would surprise us and keep us talking for years to come.
And on paper, he did that and more.
Now it’s up to the fighters to perform on the grandest stage on which many of them will compete.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
