Despite downer ending, UFC 244 was a landmark event in MMA history | Opinion

Imagine, for a moment, traveling back in time to 1997, when New York enacted a state-wide ban on mixed martial arts, which set the dominoes in motion that nearly killed the sport just as it was getting off the ground.

When you travel back, you tell people that just more than two decades down the road, the most popular boxer in the world would have his fight in Las Vegas delayed until the 500th event in UFC history ended at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.

Now add in the fact the President of the United States was in attendance, as well as arguably Hollywood’s biggest star.

The 1997 people’s heads would likely explode, and that’s before you let them know the President in 2019 is Donald Trump.

The scene described, however, was exactly what played out Saturday night at UFC 244 under Gotham’s intense spotlight. 

And while the main event of Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz ended on a down note, with an overly zealous New York State Athletic Commission cageside doctor waving the fight off due to cuts over Diaz’s right eye that probably wouldn’t have ended things in most jurisdictions, it still doesn’t detract from the magnitude of the occasion.

Out in Las Vegas, the boxing game’s brightest light in the active ranks, the magnificent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, scored a brilliant 11th-round knockout of Sergey Kovalev. Think about all the nasty things people in the boxing industry had to say about MMA over the years, and now consider the boxing folks held off their main event so fans could watch the “BMF” title fight, even piping in the broadcast over the big screens at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. 

Try to imagine that happening even five years ago, never mind 20.

It’s not that difficult to imagine Trump himself cageside given his friendship with UFC president Dana White and the fact that was involved with the Affliction MMA promotion in 2008. But regardless what you think about Trump — and he clearly got more boos than cheers in what seemed would be his safe space Saturday — it still says something the office of the POTUS was represented in the place where small-time, small-minded assemblymen tried to kill the sport.

“If you asked me 10 years ago I would have said ‘oh the sport is going to be here,’” White said at the post-fight news conference. “But, like baseball being for (President George W.) Bush, the NBA being for (President Barack) Obama, and now, the UFC has a President. … It’s like we made it.”

That Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was in the house, there to present the “Baddest Mother (Expletive)” belt to the winner, isn’t that big of a surprise on the surface, either. Johnson is a longtime fan and was in his cageside seat at UFC 60 in Los Angeles in time for the opening preliminary fight of the card, long before most ordinary fans showed up, much less the celebs. But still, in previous generations, a movie star of this stature would have been at the boxing fight. 

The reason such high-profile types were among the capacity crowd of 20,143 who ventured to MSG was the promise of something real, an occasion the fighters and fans willed into existence.

Diaz’s electrifying victory over Anthony Pettis in August at UFC 241 followed Jorge Masvidal’s five-second knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239, the two most memorable moments of 2019 happening less than two months apart. And Diaz telling the world after the Pettis fight he wanted to face the “baddest mother (expletive) in the game” led to the groundswell that made Saturday night happen.

Problem for Diaz was, Masvidal clearly proved he was every bit the bad mother(expletive) he was expected to be. Masvidal is in rare air these days, as he was crisp and effective from the start. His punches were both pinpoint and thrown with ill intentions. 

Masvidal’s overall striking game was varied enough to keep Diaz guessing. His defensive footwork when Diaz tried his trademark stalking was smooth enough to keep Diaz from ever getting fully untracked. Masvidal was up on the cards 30-26, 30-27, and 30-26 after three rounds.

That’s when NYSAC brought the proceedings to a halt like a record needle scratching. Diaz has fought through worse over the course of his career. Diaz’s eye was not swollen shut. At worst, Diaz should have been given another round to fight.

At least it can be said that Masvidal handled the fight’s immediate aftermath exactly like you’d want a true BMFer to take it. Masvidal didn’t go through all of this to win this way. He offered Diaz an immediate rematch — one White doesn’t want, which based simply on the scores is an understandable reaction — and you get the feeling they would have continued the fight in Penn Station’s waiting area if they could have gotten away with it. 

We don’t want to get too carried away with the MMA self-congratulations over the evening, since, after all, “Canelo” walks away from Saturday night with more money than either Masvidal or Diaz have made in their entire careers.

But if you consider where MMA was when New York banned it around the time of UFC 12, and where it is now, at the 500th UFC card, then Saturday night was proof this sport has come a long, long way. So far that the biggest star in boxing had to sit awhile, and that’s a fact not even NYSAC can ruin.