[ambient traffic noise]
>> Eric: I've got a quick question.
Did Dominick Cruz have a temperature?
Because if he did, I want him to know, it's not the 'Rona,
it's his legacy going up in flames.
>> I'm, like, worried that they're gonna catch a booger.
Like, push it back to my brain.
So, I'm like trying to make sure,
like, my nose is clear of any extra stuff.
[giggling]
But I'm glad that they're doing it, you know.
It'll give us peace of mind, so.
>> Flew in today with the team.
It's just-- it's a little different because, you know,
everybody's got their mask on.
I mean, I'm getting blood drawn before my fight.
You know, see this finger.
[laughing]
It's a peace!
[crowd chatter]
>> Charles: Then carbohydrates after weigh-ins,
sweet potato, rice, pasta.
What's your preference?
>> Sweet potato, rice, and pasta.
> Sweet. A little bit of everything. I got you.
>> A bit of everything. >> Alright, I'll have it ready.
>> That excites me. Now you're getting me pumped up.
>> There you go. That's what we do.
>> Talking about food.
Cutting weight on a plane is never fun, you know.
And you're just--I'm spraying everything with antibacterial.
I got a lot of good weight cut at my house, so it was nice.
What's up, guys. >> Hi, man.
>> See ya.
So, it was nice to be able to get the weight cut
done at my house, you know,
instead of having to be here in this hotel room.
If I could just show up-- Henry shows up to my front yard
and I just [bleep] him up in my front yard.
That would be ideal.
But can't do that.
Yeah, that'd be a lot better.
But oh well.
This arena will work.
>> We'll get ahold of you, let you know what's going on.
>> Okay. >> We'll let you know.
>> Check in straight ahead.
>> Eric: Saturday.
>> Dominick: Come on.
[bleep]
>> I thought that was you.
Don't sleep on Cejudo.
Says he's gonna sleep Cejudo?
Woo, good thing his coach is a first responder
because tell him to bring a N95 mask and an oxygen tank.
[laughing]
[radio playing]
>> Let's go.
Play ball.
Yeah, what's up, guys.
We're just getting ready for practice.
Got me and my crew.
Let's go.
>> Get some killing.
[chatter]
>> Here we are, social distancing from everybody.
We got the people necessary for UFC 249.
My team's here. Crew.
Let's [bleep] go!
Wait for Coach Eddie.
Coach Eddie just literally just got here.
Full team here.
We got the full squad.
>> Eddie:
>> Yes, sir.
>> I'm playing chess.
Me and my son play every day.
I [bleep] destroy him.
I know he's only 8.
He's good, man!
I'm just being real.
>> Tony: We're here to take care of business, man.
Team multiple dreams.
I'd love to hang out with you guys, but we gotta get real.
UFC 249 coming at you harder than a D'Arce.
>> Randy: So yeah, just come to me when you're starting
to set things up back of house area,
especially the mixed zones that we were talking about.
But there is plenty of space.
There are no fans.
So, we do have space to push our stuff around
and kind of figure out where everything goes.
>> Let's do a walkthrough and keep our distance.
[chains clinking]
>> Randy: Normally we run a really tight ship.
We come in, we set our show up in a matter of hours,
and we're ready to go.
This one, with social distancing in mind,
and trying to keep as few people on site as possible,
in setting everything up, we spread our load-out
over the course of an entire 24-hour period.
Starting with this morning, bringing in the rigging first.
They're all here by themselves.
It's going slow, but that's what it's meant to when
you've got half the number of crew that you normally bring in.
>> Going up!
>> Randy: And the next one will be lighting.
The octagon will be tomorrow.
So, by the end of the day tomorrow,
we'll have the whole show set up,
which we normally can do in less than a day.
>> You look good! Just square up the basket!
>> Randy: This is huge for the sporting world.
Showing what we can do, and how we can produce a show,
safely for both the crew, the athletes, you know,
will only lead to more organizations
being able to do the same thing.
Just being able to go through all these steps
and get through this process that no one's done before.
So, we're laying the groundwork.
At the end of the day, people are looking to us
to have a successful show, and come away with this
with a good framework of how we can continue to do this
for the foreseeable future right now.
>> This way.
>> Reporter #1: We know that you prepare for several guys at once.
You know, you're not just focusing on one person,
but are there any particular tweaks or changes
that you're making specifically for Justin?
>> Absolutely not.
I'm not worried about what they're doing.
I watched a lot of films.
He's got a lot of holes in his game.
He's a tough game opponent, man.
But the guy's that he fought, he got my leftovers,
and he went over there and he finished them,
but they were already broken.
Anytime I've ever fought an opponent,
they just break mentally, and physically, and spiritually--
they just can't--they just can't handle inside that octagon.
Gaethje's not gonna be anything different from these guys.
I'm not gonna hold back.
Punches, knees, kicks, and elbows.
I'm bringing out the blades for this fight.
>> Reporter #2: Going against a guy like Tony Ferguson,
are you concerned at all about the discipline
will go out the window?
Do you think this will be an extra difficult challenge
to stay disciplined in there?
>> Justin: I don't know, uh. It's a puzzle.
And I'm excited to go out there and use my skillset
that I have been working on my whole life
to try and figure out this puzzle.
And he has to not get hit.
>> Reporter #3: The winner of your fight on Saturday
will likely get a title shot next.
Does that add any extra motivation
for what you're trying to do on Saturday?
>> To be honest, I don't worry about--
I don't worry about that anymore.
What I'm focused on is this fight on Saturday.
What is-- What next, I don't know.
>> Have a good day. >> You too.
>> Reporter #4: How do you deal with, you know,
Francis being a counter-fighter,
being careful about attacking him
because he has shown that tendency before
to where he'll sit back a little bit?
>> First things first, let me put it like this.
I'm here because I want to be a champion.
And after that, I wanna stay champion, so.
This Saturday, go in the octagon,
knock Francis out.
And then walk away and get my hands raised up to another one.
>> We got in yesterday.
>> Reporter #5: So, you get to run this one back again.
Tell us how excited are you for this fight,
and the fact you got the win the first time?
>> It's been awhile since we fought.
You know, Cowboy's a totally different fighter.
Actually, we're pretty good friends now.
We fought way back-- 7 years ago, probably.
When you beat somebody,
it's always there in the back of their head.
You know, no matter what, I don't care how many fights
you have past that, your loss is a loss.
The guy who he is, he's just ready to fight and I love that.
Same thing with me,
I'm ready to fight anytime, any place, anywhere.
It's gonna be a striking match that the world wants to see,
and that's what I'm excited to go out there and do.
>> Reporter #6: Every division, they say,
"I wanna be the Cowboy Cerrone of this division.
I wanna fight, you know, 5, 6 times a year."
>> It's funny they say that until it's time to do it.
That's the funny thing. Everyone wants to do it.
Like, "I wanna be like that! I wanna fight."
UFC calls them, and they're like, "Ooh, who?
Ah, next week, yeah [bleep]."
So, that's the funny thing.
But when the UFC called me,
I didn't even know who I was fighting.
They said, "May 9th."
I said, "[bleep] yeah, let's go."
So, and that's-- it's hard.
Everyone wants to do Cowboy [bleep]
until it's time to do Cowboy [bleep].
So, came down to Jacksonville to get in a backyard fight.
Here I am.
>> Reporter #7: How does this story end for you?
You get to fight one another now.
If you were to write this story right now,
how you want it to play out perfectly on Saturday night,
what does it look like?
>> You know, people a lot of times talk about the journey.
To me, it's a lot of times, it's about destiny.
And you know, the destination is--
the overall objective is to get your hand raised.
So, that's what I envision.
And you know, when I'm firing at all cylinders,
I don't think there's any man,
any human being on earth that could beat me.
>> Reporter #8: Do you feel that coming back
after more than three years, that your legacy,
you are the greatest in the bantamweight division?
>> Not only have I beaten pretty much every single guy
that he's beaten, but I beat them for titles,
and other than Marlon Moraes,
I've definitely had a lot more title fights,
and a lot more time in that octagon than him.
All that stuff added up, it's ring generalship.
It's understanding where to be.
It's understanding how to use the time.
It's understanding how to use the fight
in every single minute and every single second
of every single round.
And that's what I do very well.
>> Thank you, Dominick! >> Thank you, guys.
Have a good day. >> Thank you.
[dramatic theme music]
♪♪