Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been around for nearly 30 years, but the UFC Long Island event set to go down later this afternoon (Sat., July 16, 2022) from inside UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, will mark only the third time the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion is showcased on ABC.
It’s a big deal to say the least, which is why UFC put together one heck of a free card. From a main event clash between featherweight contenders Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez to the flyweight debut of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, UFC Long Island is offering up a little bit of everything.
In advance to today’s main card on ABC the network surprised UFC Long Island’s broadcast team with the iconic World Wide of Sports gold jacket. This is not something that happens too often and it created quite the reaction from cageside members like Jon Anik, Paul Felder, and Megan Olivi. You can check it out in the above video player.
UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier, who wasn’t present for the initial reveal, lost his mind when learning about the ABC gold jackets. Check out his reaction below:
DC couldn’t contain his excitement when he received his own gold ABC jacket for #UFCLongIsland pic.twitter.com/uyGJ3uTglG
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 15, 2022
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Long Island fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 11 a.m. ET, followed by the ABC/ESPN+ main card start time at 2 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Long Island news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archives here, here, and here. For the updated and finalized “Ortega vs. Rodriguez” fight card and ABC/ESPN/ESPN+ lineup click here.