In the middle of a period when professional sports has been brought to a halt by the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC took on the daunting task on Saturday night of serving as the first major professional sport in the country to return to action with the UFC 249 event in Jacksonville, Florida. The UFC entered the highly-publicized weekend with a stacked card but still forced with living up to some lofty expectations. In the end, it's safe to say that the UFC succeeded in providing the slightest bit of normalcy with action that we won't soon forget. 

The UFC 249 event, originally scheduled to take place on April 18 in Brooklyn, had everything a fight fan could have asked for. We witnessed an epic main event where a new interim lightweight champion was crowned after a systematic beating was delivered for nearly 25 minutes, a vicious, highlight-reel knockout in nearly the blink of an eye and even a shocking retirement. For myriad reasons, UFC 249 will go down in history. 

Can't get enough UFC? Subscribe to our podcast State of Combat with Brian Campbell where we break down everything you need to know in the Octagon, including a complete recap of UFC249 below.

It was an amazing week from Jacksonville, and CBS Sports was with you every step of the away. Relive everything that went down this week in the lead up to the fight card, as well as the fight card itself, with our completed guide below.

UFC 249 fight card results

  • Justin Gaethje def. Tony Ferguson via fifth-round TKO to win interim lightweight title -- Recap, highlights
  • Henry Cejudo (c) def. Dominick Cruz via second-round TKO to retain bantamweight title -- Recap, highlights
  • Francis Ngannou def. Jair Rozenstruik via first-round KO -- Recap, highlights 
  • Calvin Kattar def. Jeremy Stephens via second-round TKO (strikes) -- Recap, highlights
  • Greg Hardy def. Yorgan De Castro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) -- Recap, highlights
  • Anthony Pettis def. Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) -- Recap, highlights
  • Aleksei Oleinik def. Fabricio Werdum via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
  • Carla Esparza def. Michelle Waterson via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
  • Vicente Luque def. Niko Price via TKO (strikes; doctor stoppage) -- Recap, highlights
  • Bryce Mitchell def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-24)
  • Ryan Spann def. Sam Alvey via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

UFC 249 countdown