UFC 249 was finally held Saturday night in Jacksonville, Fla. and like most sporting events going forward until who knows when, there were no fans allowed in the the arena.
This led to some strange viewing on television as it’s just weird to not hear fans screaming and yelling (or wooing, which stinks) during the fights.
But something crazy came out of the quiet – two fighters admitted after their fights that they had heard UFC legend/announcer Daniel Cormier’s analysis from cageside during their fights and they were able to use that to their advantage.
Carla Esparza was one of those fighters, as she said after her win over Michelle Waterson that DC’s words helped her mix it up more in her fight:
James Hardy, who kicked off the pay-per-view with a win over Yorgan De Castro in a stinker of a fight, also got help from Cormier:
This is a pretty wild development with these empty arena fights. Cormier said later in the broadcast that there’s nothing he can do to avoid this, and he’s right, he has a job to do.
But it will be interesting if more fighters gain an advantage by hearing Cormier or other announcers going forward.
