UFC 300 critics should PIPE DOWN, Dana White has put on an incredible showcase that will go down in combat history

3 weeks ago 24

THE UFC celebrates its second historic milestone in the space of five months this weekend.

Last November, mixed martial arts premier promotion celebrated the 30th anniversary of its inaugural event – UFC 1.

The UFC hosts its historic 300th pay-per-view in Las Vegas this weekend[/caption]

UFC 300 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas early on Sunday morning[/caption]

The historic card features over TEN PER CENT of all the current or former champions in UFC history[/caption]

Some deluded MMA fans aren’t happy with Dana White’s offering for the historic[/caption]

And the MMA leader will once again reflect on another momentous occasion early tomorrow morning at UFC 300.

Their 300th pay-per-view card, fittingly, takes place at the promotion’s spiritual and physical home – Las Vegas.

The 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena will play host to the iconic event, just as it did for UFC 200 seven years ago.

But unlike the build-up to 200, UFC 300 has been subjected to nit-picking of the highest order.

The intense dissection and scrutiny of the card reached fever pitch after the main event was announced in February.

Fans fumed when it was revealed that new favourite Alex Pereira would defend his light-heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill in a fight fitting for any PPV.

The faceless Twitter trolls and the gutter-residing content creators who claim to truly love the sport not just for its big names unfairly took aim at the duo for being given the opportunity of a lifetime.

And they did so while not factoring in the INSANE series of fights that will precede the final desert-dust-up of the night.

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A whopping TWELVE former or current champions will be in action at the T-Mobile.

And if the trolls and critics bothered crunching the numbers, they’d realize they’re seeing a large portion of the elite athletes to have worn UFC gold compete on the same night.

UFC 300 – Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill: How to watch landmark Las Vegas event

Just over TEN PER CENT of the fighters to have ever reached the pinnacle of the sport will be in action this weekend.

I would’ve laughed in your face a mere five years ago if you had told me – an MMA fan for the best part of two decades – that a card featuring a slew of former or current champions and several fan favourites would come together.

And for good reason as the UFC has a history of staggering their talent to ensure they don’t have any thin pay-per-views events.

But here we are, just hours away from an immense showcase of some of the best to ever do it in their respective divisions.

My mentioning of the stacked nature of the card, however, isn’t in any way shape or form a reprieve for the promotion as I, and many others, believe UFC 300 could have been bigger.

It goes without saying that the promotion missed an open goal by not having the biggest star in the history of the sport top the bill.

The long-awaited return of Conor McGregor should have headlined the card, there’s just no two ways about it.

Dana White and Co. would have been printed money had The Notorious’ comeback clash with Michael Chandler been the showpiece bout of the weekend.

Conor McGregor’s comeback clash with Michael Chandler should’ve headlined UFC 300[/caption]

Dana White and his team somewhat dropped the ball by not having McGregor vs Chandler on the card[/caption]

But they’ve obviously got other plans for their poster boy, who looks on course to return in the summer.

I can see why casual and hardcore UFC fans felt led down the garden path by White, who repeatedly promised to deliver a mind-blowing main event.

And for all intents and purposes, he attempted to do that – with his pursuit of Leon Edwards fights against Khamzat Chimaev and lightweight king Islam Makhachev a testament to that fact.

Further evidence was White’s bid to put together a mouth-weathering middleweight title grudge match between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

It’s no secret that certain sections of the MMA fanbase hang on the veteran promoter’s every word.

But it’s safe to say many of them had unrealistic and, quite frankly, absurd expectations for UFC 300 given the respective landscapes of several divisions.

Some truly deluded fans – and believe me there are plenty of them – honestly thought the UFC would bring back the likes of Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey and Georges St-Pierre for the card.

That was despite White making it CRYSTAL CLEAR there would be no WWE-esque comebacks for the trio – who are all enjoying their respective retirements from the sport – months before the first fight on the card was even announced.

Ultimately, what White promised us was a card that would blow us away and leaving talking for years to come.

And on paper, he’s done that and then some.

Now it’s down to the fighters to deliver on the grandest stage many of them will compete on.