Sports
Dana White: UFC Planning to Hold Cards May 9, May 13 and May 16 amid COVID-19
Chris Unger/Getty ImagesUFC President Dana White said Friday the promotion is planning to resume operations amid the coronavirus pandemic with three events in eight days starting May 9.”We’re having fights May 9, then another card May 13, then May 16,” he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto on Instagram Live (via Marc Raimondi of ESPN). “We’re doing Saturday,…
Chris Unger/Getty Images
UFC President Dana White said Friday the promotion is planning to resume operations amid the coronavirus pandemic with three events in eight days starting May 9.
“We're having fights May 9, then another card May 13, then May 16,” he told ESPN's Brett Okamoto on Instagram Live (via Marc Raimondi of ESPN). “We're doing Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. We're gonna knock out three shows in a week.”
Here's a look at the projected UFC 249 card for May 9:
- Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje
- Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz
- Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar
- Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis
- Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro
- Aleksei Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Ryan Spann vs. Sam Alvey
- Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson
- Uriah Hall vs. Jacare Souza
- Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Charles Rosa
According to Friday's announcement from the UFC, the three scheduled events will take place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The most recent UFC event took place March 14 in Brazil with no fans in attendance.
White explained his focus is getting back on a schedule before debuting his new Fight Island, where he'll host international events with a projected starting date in June.
“I'm not in a big hurry to get fans back in the arena,” he said. “I know we can do this thing safely with no fans. We have a good plan in place. I don't know when the whole fan thing is going to start again.”
UFC 249 was previously scheduled to happen April 18 at the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoore, California. The event would have taken place on tribal lands, which aren't governed by the federal and local COVID-19 regulations currently in place.
“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,” White told Okamoto on April 9.
ESPN, the promotion's broadcast partner, released a statement at the time saying it had been in “constant contact” with the UFC and it “didn't feel this was the right time for a variety of reasons” for the event.
White's comments Friday suggest ESPN will broadcast the May 9 show after those prior objections.
UFC's main event of Ferguson taking on Gaethje will be for the interim UFC Lightweight Championship.
“It goes down like a scrap,” Ferguson said on The Score's MMA Podcast (via Chisanga Malata of the Daily Express). “It's a barnburner, man. Dude doesn't just throw punches; he throws kicks…he is a freestyle fighter. He's a brawler. He will be ready for more than three rounds. I'm really looking forward to it. So, I hope it goes a couple of rounds. We can give the crowd an actual show.”
Cejudo and Cruz vying for the UFC Bantamweight Championship will be the show's other title fight.
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