LAS VEGAS — The tale of the UFC 300 pre-fight news conference Thursday was a story of noses and ears. It makes sense. What else do you expect when you gather so many accomplished fighters, all in different phases of their careers, in one place for one special event?
Former featherweight champ Max Holloway, whose nose seems to get bigger and broader every year, marking his passage through this sport like tree rings. His opponent, Justin Gaethje, with his own dented beak that gives his voice the sound of a permanent cold every time he speaks.
Then there was Arman Tsarukyan’s mangled ears (and nose). And the college wrestling star Bo Nickal, whose ears jut from his head like handles on a mug, both a warning sign and a strong indicator of what he’d like to do once the cage door closes Saturday night. And Renato Moicano’s nose, slowly spreading out on his face like a conquering army taking over.
Seeing them all on the news conference stage was a good reminder that no one moves through this sport unscathed. And yet, with the biggest UFC event of the year on deck, they still did their best to put a fine polish on bodies and faces that have paid the price of entry many times over.
As much as the lineup for UFC 300 was criticized by disappointed fans and media when it was finalized, seeing the full scope of the fighting skill and experience gathered altogether in one spot did succeed in driving home the magnitude of this event. When there are former champions fighting in the first prelim bout of the night, you know it’s bound to be a big one.
Even the main event, which didn’t quite live up to UFC president Dana White’s promise of being a truly “insane” matchup, nonetheless generated some heat once the fighters got together on stage.
Former light heavyweight champ Jamahal Hill showed up with a battered and bloodied miniature Easter Island head that he held up as a promise of things to come for Alex Pereira on Saturday night.
“It’s just to get acquainted with the visual I plan on seeing on Saturday night,” Hill said to a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance.
This was the only moment during the day’s proceedings when current champion Pereira didn’t need to wait for the translation into Portuguese before he spoke up. He didn’t even need to wait to be asked for a response.
“I’ll make him remember this moment when I’m in my walkout, about to go to the Octagon, and my music is playing,” Pereira said, via an interpreter. “I’ll make him remember this moment.”
And with that, the fuse on the UFC 300 main event was lit. Hill fired back, addressing Pereira for the first time, inviting the champ to “write it down, take a picture, I don’t give a f***.”
“You step in there with me, ain’t nothing to talk about,” Hill continued. “Ain’t nothing to say. It’s all right here, and I’m on your ass.”
Nothing whips up a news conference crowd like two men promising to hurt one another in memorable ways. This is especially true when many of the people in that crowd have also paid large sums of money for tickets to see those men do just that Saturday.
The line to get into this event stretched all through the MGM Grand casino Thursday afternoon — and that was just to see people talk about the fighting to come. To wait through that meant snaking through the parts of the casino that smelled like piped-in perfume, then to the parts that reeked of cigarette smoke, past the food court with its melange of fried aromas, and into an arena that asked only that you pour your overpriced margarita into the plastic cups provided. And still, no one in line seemed to question whether it was all worth it.
The thing you really come to appreciate with a fight card like this is just how known every single fighter on it is. No also-rans or lesser-knowns. Not on UFC 300. Fans of this sport, they know the story and the stakes for every fight on this card. The mere mention of any fighter’s name during the news conference made clear how the masses felt about that person. (“Question here for Charles Oliveira …” got big cheers each time, while questions for his opponent, Tsarukyan, were almost drowned out by the boos that followed his name being spoken.)
Also present in the room with us was a sense of scope. Jim Miller, who fought on UFC 100, UFC 200, and UFC 300, served as a living reminder of the long road to this point. Moicano couldn’t help but celebrate the fact that he’d watched those first two centennial events on the couch and now would get to be a part of UFC 300 history.
Times like this, when the moment is big enough that the fighters themselves seem like fans, don’t come around that often. But then, neither do events like this. And anyone who’s lived through the thrills and agonies of the first 299 knows that the next century mark won’t come without extracting its price from everyone who got us there.
