Waking up on this Sunday morning, the combat sports headlines are dominated by Brandon Royval’s stunning win over Tatsuro Taira at UFC Vegas 98, Artur Beterbiev’s controversial victory over Dmitry Bivol in the boxing, and Oscar Willis’ first-round KO at BKFC.
Yet one headline that you might be surprised to see is this one; world-renowned singer and actress Ariana Grande poking fun at various UFC stars in a new ‘promotional video’ for the upcoming PPV in Abu Dhabi.
Watch singer Ariana Grande promote UFC 308 in hilarious SNL comedy sketch
UFC 308 is scheduled for Saturday, October 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and will be headlined by a featherweight showdown between Spanish-Georgian sensation Ilia Topuria and popular veteran Max Holloway.
Whilst such an outstanding fight certainly needs no introduction, it was a pleasant surprise to see the PPV event being promoted on NBC last night on the iconic Saturday Night Live.
In what could very well be considered one of the best promos of the year, it was left to singer and actress Ariana Grande to hype up the event as she offered fans her rendition of Celine Dion’s ‘It’s All Coming Back to Me Now’ with a few UFC-related changes to the lyric.
“Football, it is a sport that connects who we are to who we were; proving that our most powerful memories can stay with us forever… That is why last week, I, Celine Deon, made a promo for Sunday Night Football okay – but football isn’t the only sport that connects us to our past, no?
“There is another sport whose timeliness emotions ignite the bittersweet memories that live inside my soul, and in the octagon” teased Grande, whose impression of Celine Dion was simply perfect.
“It’s all coming back. It’s all coming back to me now… There was breaking of bones. And there were knees to the balls… Oh the memories. No?
“A woman in a sports bra with the tightest French braids and the flattest face [Joanna Jedrzejczyk] … An angry man with a cauliflower ear and a sideways nose [Mike Perry] … The hush of the crowd as a 300-pound Bosnian vomits up his own teeth… This is the UFC.”
“Come on, when I hit you here like this… And when you choke me like that… When you elbow me in the tit… All coming back to me,” continued Grande/Dion, as she then took indirect aim at voices of the octagon Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier.
“Dozens of commentators, all bald and in the shiniest of shirts… It was lost long ago. But it’s all coming back to me… It’s all coming back to me… But maybe not to them because of the concussions, no?”
As the montage moved through the various pictures that have dominated the minds of UFC fans for the better part of three decades, the parody song moved into its final stanza.
“That is the beauty of the UFC… The tension, the skill. I can bury you… Oh. Come on. But it’s all coming back to me, Nate… I am Celine Dion for the UFC 308, see you in the Octagon.”
UFC 308 is set to be one of the best PPV events of the entire year, with that fabulous featherweight title fight remaining the cherry on top of a truly stacked cake.
As of October 13, fans can look forward to the following fights at UFC 308.
- Ilia Topuria vs Max Holloway
- Robert Whittaker vs Khamzat Chimaev
- Lerone Murphy vs Dan Ige
- Magomed Ankalaev vs Aleksandar Rakic
- Shara Magomedov vs Armen Petrosyan
- Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Nursulton Ruziboev
- Geoff Neal vs Rafael dos Anjos
- Abus Magomedov vs Brunno Ferreira
- Ibo Aslan vs Raffael Cerqueira
- Myktybek Orolbai vs Mateusz Rebecki
- Farid Basharat vs Victor Hugo
- Bruno Silva vs Ismail Naurdiev
- Said Nurmagomedov vs Daniel Santos
- Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Chris Barnett
It all goes down live from the Etihad Arena on October 26.