‘The weaklings won’ – Fighters react to UFC 249 cancellation

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Pro fighters took to Twitter en masse to give their thoughts on the breaking news that UFC 249 had been cancelled and future UFC events postponed. As of Monday, it looked like the UFC had found a way to suc…

UFC 249 Khabib v Ferguson: Press Conference

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Pro fighters took to Twitter en masse to give their thoughts on the breaking news that UFC 249 had been cancelled and future UFC events postponed.

As of Monday, it looked like the UFC had found a way to succeed. Dana White – who had promised for weeks that the promotion would absolutely find a way to make UFC 249 happen on April 18th – announced that Justin Gaethje would fight Tony Ferguson in a yet to be named location. That following the withdrawal of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was stuck in Russia—with his home country’s travel ban to deal with.

More fights were announced, plans of a potential private island for future events were teased. And eventually it leaked that UFC 249 would take place at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, on tribal land, in Lemoore, CA. With the location public, however, the new fight card quickly came crashing down.

On Thursday, April 9th, just days after officially announcing the new lineup of UFC 249, White spoke to ESPN and announced that the card had been cancelled. Apparently ESPN & Disney brass had spoken to him personally, and told the UFC president he needed to “stand down.”

As a result of the news, fighters from around the world took to twitter to give their thoughts on the UFC having to shut down their first event in weeks—and to indefinitely postpone their upcoming schedule as well.