Interested in UFC 205 but only know the bare bones about mixed martial arts? No problem.
amNewYork is here to help educate on some basic UFC knowledge, as well as provide some information specific to this weekend’s event at Madison Square Garden.
What took so long for the UFC to come to the city?
MMA was banned by Gov. George Pataki in 2001 thanks to its no-holds-barred past. The sport has since implemented plenty of rules to protect the fighters and is now sanctioned throughout North America.
How many weight classes are in the UFC?
Eight men’s and two women’s divisions feature championships.
The men compete at flyweight (125-pound limit), bantamweight (135), featherweight (145), lightweight (155), welterweight (170), middleweight (185), light heavyweight (205) and heavyweight (265). The women fight at strawweight (115) and bantamweight.
So what’s illegal in the cage?
A lot. Highlights (or lowlights) include head-butts, biting, hair pulling, low blows, small joint manipulation, spitting, eye gouging, head kicks to a grounded opponent and, of course, fish hooking.
How much do tickets to UFC 205 cost?
As of Wednesday afternoon, three 200-level seats listed at $1,181 each were still available firsthand through Ticketmaster. The best seats still available: two premium cageside seats valued at $16,995 apiece.
The cheapest tickets at the time on StubHub sought $600 each to sit in the west balcony.
Can’t afford that. How else can I watch?
Ordering the HD broadcast of the pay-per-view, which begins at 10 p.m. and could go as late at 2 a.m., at home is listed at $59.99 on the UFC website. The site also provides a searchable list of nearby venues confirmed to air the fights by visiting bars.ufc.com.
Four preliminary card bouts will air on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 8 p.m., and two more are scheduled for the UFC’s subscription-based channel Fight Pass beginning at 7 p.m.
Which UFC 205 fight will be the most action-packed?
The lighter weights often are the best source for kinetic cage fights. None of the bouts will be contested above middleweight, so odds are good there won’t be too many sloppy brawls.
Donald Cerrone is the most reliable action fighter in town. The main event between Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor is a Fight of the Night contender, as is the women strawweight’s title fight between champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
Hold up, how do I pronounce her name?
Jedrzejczyk is Polish, and her full name is pronounced yo-AN-nah yen-JEY-chik. Commit that to memory because she’s excellent.
