The countdown is on to UFC International Fight Week, as the biggest week of the year for MMA fans takes center stage in Las Vegas next week.
I’ve worked UFC International Fight Week several times over the years as credentialed media, and it’s always one of the highlights of my working year. It’s also served up some magic moments down the years.
My first UFC International Fight Week came back at UFC 189 in 2015, where I was on press row to witness McGregor capturing the interim featherweight title against Chad Mendes at the MGM Grand. Sinead O’Connor and Aaron Lewis sang McGregor and Mendes to the Octagon with incredible live performances, and the atmosphere, with the arena packed with Irish fans, was unforgettable as McGregor weathered an early storm from Mendes to eventually stop him late in the second round and claim his first UFC title.
The craziest fight week ever?
Then, one year later, came the single craziest fight week I’ve ever experienced, with three UFC events in three days on a massive week that culminated with UFC 200.
First, Eddie Alvarez spectacularly dethroned Rafael dos Anjos to capture the undisputed lightweight title on the Thursday night, then Joanna Jedrzejczyk retained her undisputed women’s strawweight title with victory over Claudia Gadelha on the Friday night.
That set up UFC 200 itself, which had gone through a rollercoaster week when it was announced to us as media at a hastily-arranged press conference that the headline bout between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier was off due to Jones’ failed drug test.
The women’s bantamweight title fight between defending champion Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes was bumped up to the headline spot, and on that special one-off gold Octagon canvas, “The Lioness” captured her first UFC championship belt via first-round submission.
That whole week, bouncing from media days to open workouts to weigh-ins, then back again, with that Jones-Cormier presser thrown in for good measure, remains the craziest week of my career covering this sport, but it also showed how remarkably agile the UFC was, and still is, as a company as they somehow kept everything on track, despite the chaos that week.
Return of ‘The Mac’
That was the biggest UFC International Fight Week ever, but it seems there’s always a big talking point when the UFC’s big week of fighting festivities rolls around, and this year is no exception, with Irish MMA superstar Conor McGregor set to make his long-awaited return to action at UFC 329 on July 11.
McGregor faces off against Max Holloway in a rematch that sees both men in very different places in their careers from when they first fought. In that first meeting at UFC Boston in August 2013, they were both highly-rated rising stars of the promotion, with McGregor emerging as the unanimous decision victor. But this summer, they’ll face off having captured multiple titles between them, with their respective careers already sure to land them both in the UFC Hall of Fame.
For McGregor, it’s the chance to reignite his fighting career, with his fight coming five years after he sustained a horrific broken leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. For Holloway, meanwhile, it’s an opportunity to add to his legacy and potentially position himself for another rematch, with his old BMF rival and newly-crowned undisputed lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje.
It’s a marquee fight for a marquee event, with UFC International Fight Week traditionally delivering the biggest week of the year for UFC fans.
Hot on the heels of the recent UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House less than a month ago, it’s another huge occasion for UFC fans, with the annual week-long program of events, including a huge fan expo, UFC X, at Las Vegas Convention Center, delivering a great experience for fans of the sport.
But the big attraction, of course, is the big fight card itself, and while there’s the unusual lack of any title fights on the card – a rarity for a UFC numbered event – the presence of McGregor vs Holloway ensures that big-fight feel will be turned up to 11 by the time “Hawaiian Kickboxer” hits the speakers for Holloway’s walkout on fight night.
