UFC 249 won’t be happening April 18 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The fighting event was supposed to be the first major sports action in America amid the crisis, and Tony Ferguson was going to fight Justin Gaethje in the cage. That will no longer be happening. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
UFC President Dana White told Brett Okamoto the “highest level” at ESPN and Disney called him, and he made the decision to postpone the massive fight.
You can watch his full comments below.
Okamoto also reported that White told him the UFC fully intends on promoting 42 events in 2020. It’s unclear if that’s subject to change in the near future or not.
Dana White (@danawhite) also made it clear to me after we wrapped the interview the UFC will still promote 42 events this year, which it was originally scheduled to do.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 9, 2020
This is bad news, and it’s just the latest example of the coronavirus pandemic destroying sports for the time being.
UFC 249 was supposed to be the first event that kicked off the return of sports. Now, we’ll have to wait longer, and there’s still light at the end of the tunnel.
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Let’s hope Dana White gets something back on the books, and this virus goes away forever. I think we can all agree we’ve had enough of this terrible situation.