Another day, another fight cancelled.
This time, it’s the UFC Featherweight Championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at UFC 251. Earlier this week, Joanne Calderwood confirmed that she would no longer fight Valentina Shevchenko at the pay-per-view due to the women’s flyweight champion suffering an injury.
However, it appears that the coronavirus is the reasoning behind the featherweight championship fight being scrapped, according to Volkanovski during an interview with ESPN:
“To be honest with you, nothing was signed, nothing was locked in. Everything was pointing towards Perth, but we’re still not sure whether it’s going to go ahead or whether it’s not,” Volkanovski said.
“But I’m in a weird position where I’m being quarantined, not being able to train properly, not being able to get over to New Zealand. So are we still going to be doing that card? I just don’t think that’s a good idea for me, especially coming off a broken hand. For me to try and overcome an injury and then go into a camp, and not be fully prepared in the camp, it’s not a good idea. So I don’t think the Perth card will go ahead, but if it does I don’t know the chances of me being on it.”
Like many upcoming UFC events, the pay-per-view largely remains up in the air due to the coronavirus epidemic. Dana White is trying his hardest to make sure that everything remains on schedule; however, this simply appears to be something that’s not in White’s control.
As of this writing, neither Holloway or White have commented on the situation thus far.