Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, 47, presented the BMF belt to Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, 34, of Miami, Florida, United States at “UFC 244,” which marked the 500th live event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It was witnessed lived by United States president Donald Trump, 73.
Featuring 12 MMA bouts, the UFC held “UFC 244” at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on November 2, 2019. In the main event of the evening, Masvidal competed in the welterweight division against Nate Diaz, 34, of Stockton, California, USA.
Dan Miragliotta served as the referee. He put a stop to the contest after three five-minute rounds.
In the end, Miragliotta raised the hand of Masvidal. The Cuban-Peruvian-American MMA fighter won via technical knockout due to doctor stoppage and received the BMF belt from Johnson.
“UFC, make it happen,” Masvidal said in his post-fight interview. “Let’s run it back. I don’t like to leave the ring like this with my opponent conscious.”
“There’s only one way to do it and that’s to baptize them and I didn’t get to baptize Nate,” the Cuban-Peruvian-American MMA fighter continued. “So we’re going to run it back.”
A total of 20,143 attended the “UFC 244” fight night at the Madison Square Garden. One of them was Trump, who was accompanied by his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump along with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, New York Rep. Peter King.
The “UFC 244” crowd was polarized not only by the welterweight bout between Masvidal and Diaz. The spectators were also divided when it comes to the presence of the U.S. president as some of them welcomed him with loud boos while others cheered.
Meanwhile, Johnson attended the press conference for “UFC 245” at the Hulu Theater at the Madison Square Garden one day before the “UFC 244” fight night. During the event, he announced that he is set to play former UFC fighter Mark “The Smashing Machine” Kerr, 50, of Phoenix, Arizona, United States in a movie.
Here is Masvidal’s post-fight interview in the octagon with Joe Rogan:
CONAN Daily 