UFC Fight Night 171 (March 21), UFC on ESPN 8 (March 28) and UFC Fight Night 172 (April 11) have officially been postponed. The decision to bring a halt to the UFC comes amid growing concerns of the coronavirus outbreak.
The UFC had been one of the last major sports to host and event, including this past weekend's UFC Fight Night 170, which played out in an empty arena in Brazil and aired on ESPN+. The promotion received some blowback from the media for pressing on with the fight, but UFC president Dana White seemed unphased by it.
While the promotion had every intention of pressing on with its schedule, tighter restrictions on traveling and limits on the number of people in a room made it too difficult to continue. UFC president Dana White notified his entire staff of the decision to postpone future events via an email (obtained by ESPN):
"As you've heard me say, I've been in the fight game for 20 years, and this is what we do: We find a way to keep our events going no matter what. But this is different. The whole world is being affected right now, and nothing is more important than the health and safety of you and your families."
UFC Fight Night 171 was in major jeopardy for a while, especially with Leon Edwards pulling out of his main event fight with Tyron Woodley. The UFC had to replace a number of fighters on the card and even had to move it from London to FireLake Arena in Oklahoma. But in the end, the limit on 10 people in a room was just too much of a hurdle for the UFC.
Dana White told ESPN that these three events will eventually play out and that the highly anticipated title fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is still on for April 18.