For the past few weeks, UFC president Dana White was adament about going through with UFC 249. Today, he officially announced that it has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Dana White explained that UFC 249 was postponed at the request of Disney and ESPN.
"Today, we got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney, and the highest level at ESPN... and the powers that be there asked me to stand down and not do this event [next] Saturday.
UFC 249 was scheduled to air on ESPN+ on April 18. In a separate statement, ESPN provided its stance on UFC 249:
Nobody wants to see sports return more than we do, but we didn't feel this was the right time for a variety of reasons. ESPN expressed its concerns to the UFC and they understood."
White reaffirmed that the UFC's partnership with ESPN, which has a five-year contract as the exclusive home of UFC fights on its networks and pay-per-view services, is a strong one. He added that the UFC is ready to go whenever he gets the green light from the network.
"I can go next week," White said. "So whenever my partner gives me the thumbs-up that they're ready to go, I'm ready to go."
White had been pushing for the event to go on despite all other major sports shutting down amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's been a battle since day one. We've been fighting nonstop all day and all night, since this pandemic started, to put on this event on April 18," White said. "... Tachi Palace in California, the Indian reservation, has had our back this whole time, has stood their ground and was willing to do this fight. And let me tell you this: When the world gets back to normal, California, that [fight] will be at Tachi Palace."
UFC 249 was slated to be a big-ticket event, headlined by a lightweight title match between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, due to travel restrictions, Nurmagomedov had to pull out of the fight, resulting in Justine Gaethje filling in for a interim title fight against Ferguson. A rematch between former UFC womens' strawweight champions Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade had also already been called off after Namajunas withdrew due to two coronavirus-related deaths in her family.
The UFC has postponed all future events indefinitely, but Dana White assured that no one at the company will be getting laid off. He also promised to take care of the fighters under contract. He ended the interview on a positive note, promising to be the first sport back when this whole coronavirus pandemic starts to settle.
"It's all good. We're going to get through this. We'll be the first ones back. Fight Island is coming, all the good stuff. It's coming, man. We'll get this thing squared away, get a date from ESPN, and we'll be back first and we'll get these fights going that everybody wants to see," White said.