UFC Cancels All Events Up Through May 16, 2020

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White, recently stated that he would be staging an event on May 9, 2020 in the face of the coronavirus pandemic after he was forced to postpone UFC 249, which was set to go down last weekend (Sat., April 18, 2020) in Lemoore, Calif.

But according to a recent statement released by the promotion, it has now officially postponed its next four scheduled events. The list of scratched events include UFC Fight Night 173 on April 25 in Lincoln, Nebraska, UFC Fight Night 174 on May 2 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, UFC 250 on May 9 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as UFC Fight Night 175, which was scheduled to go down on May 16 in San Diego, California.

The promotion did state that it does plan to to “return with an event in the near future,” and that all purchased tickets for the canceled events will be refunded immediately.

What that means for White’s May 9 proposed event is unclear, though it was already known that UFC 250 would not go down in Brazil due to travel restrictions around the globe. So while the determined president has stood firm in his stance to stage an event on that date — which could be dubbed UFC 249 — this most recent revelation casts doubt on those plans.

All signs pointed to the planned pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganza going down at UFC’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, but a recent report stated that the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) wasn’t quite ready to commit to a date when it would once again allow combat events to go down in the state.

Of course, White has other options in California and Florida, but if he had his preference, it’s safe to assume he’d like to have “Fight Island” up and running in three weeks time to insure that he would not have to inform the “wimpy media” that he would be postponing another event.