UFC 249 on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., ushered in a new look for sports. One without fans and amid several safety precautions. It was definitely different — two fighters adjusted their approaches because of what they heard announcers say — and a welcome reprieve for a sports-craved country that went nearly eight weeks with few live events. “We did this for you, to bring sports back,” fighter Tony Ferguson told fans following his loss in the main event. Dana White and the UFC look like the big winners following their rousing show at Veterans Memorial Arena, an event that could serve as a blueprint for other sports leagues around the country and the world as they start to resume during a global pandemic. The NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR, all of them had to have an eye on how the UFC approached and handled the first major human-centric sporting event in the United States since the new coronavirus shuttered much of the country nearly two months ago. The UFC created a 25-page document to address health and safety protocols, which included disinfecting the octagon between bouts and mandating tests and masks for nearly everyone in attendance. The spotlight only intensified when one fighter, Jacaré Souza, and two of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19 a day before the stacked card. Souza was pulled from the fight and removed from the hotel where hundreds of UFC employees are staying this week. The UFC has two more fight nights scheduled this week in Jacksonville, beginning Wednesday, and plans to administer more than 1,000 more coronavirus tests for everyone scheduled to take part. “However it was handled this week, this was our first week,” White said. “It will only get better. And we can share what we learned here doing three events with other sports leagues who are reaching out to us and asking.” Five hours after President Trump congratulated UFC for restarting the sports world, Justin Gaethje stunned heavily favored Ferguson in the finale. Gaethje earned a TKO in the fifth and final round of the headliner that was deemed an interim lightweight title bout. The stacked card saw 33-year-old Henry Cejudo, with blood gushing from his forehead and running down his chest, defend his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz and then announce his retirement in the middle of the octagon. The event also included heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou pummeling another opponent, and former welterweight champion and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone losing his fourth straight. Former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy won for the sixth time in eight fights, taking a unanimous decision over previously undefeated Yorgan De Castro of Fall River in a heavyweight bout. Also on the card, Methuen’s Calvin Kattar (21-4) stopped Jeremy Stephens (28-18) in the second round after consecutive elbow blows, one standing and another on the ground.
Alex Morgan gives birth to first child
US national soccer team star Alex Morgan has become a mom just in time for Mother’s Day. Morgan announced Saturday on social media that she gave birth to daughter Charlie Elena Carrasco at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Charlie weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces. “She made us wait longer than expected, but I should have known she would do it her way and her way only. My super moon baby,” Morgan wrote in an Instagram post. Morgan and husband Servando Carrasco, who is a midfielder for the LA Galaxy, announced in October that they were expecting their first child in April. Morgan was on the US team that won the World Cup last summer in France. She hopes to return to the team following her maternity leave in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Her season with the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League was cut short last year by a knee injury. She and Carrasco met at the University of California, where both played soccer. They were married on New Year’s Eve in 2014.
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Ducks keep Guhle with $1.6m extension
The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Brendan Guhle to a two-year, $1.6 million contract extension. The Ducks also signed forward Sam Carrick to a one-year extension worth $700,000 on Sunday. The 22-year-old Guhle has 14 points in 59 career NHL games with the Ducks and the Buffalo Sabres, who traded their former second-round pick to Anaheim in February 2019 along with a first-round draft pick for defenseman Brandon Montour. Guhle has four goals and four assists in 30 games this season for the Ducks. He scored his first NHL goal on Nov. 27 at Arizona . . . Mary Pratt, who played for the Rockford Peaches and Kenosha Comets in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, died Wednesday in Braintree. She was 101 and believed to be the last surviving member of the original 1943 Peaches. Pratt pitched in the women’s league from 1943-47. The league was profiled in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.”
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UFC stands tall after first live sports event - The Boston Globe
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