Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Dana White says he has secured a venue for the controversial UFC 249 event headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.
Dana White promised the MMA world that UFC 249: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson would go on, and he seems to be one step closer to doing just that.
The UFC President announced he had secured a venue for the event, days after it was officially pulled from New York’s Barclays Center. He shared the news with Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole via Instagram Live.
“I do (know where it is),” White said (h/t MMA Junkie). “But I’m not ready to tell you yet. I know lots of things… There’s not going to be any fans there. It’s going to be a closed event.”
“Everybody who is going to be involved in this thing is going to be because they want to be, not because they have to be or they have to do anything,” White assured. “Believe me: We didn’t just start thinking about safety when the coronavirus popped up. Health and safety, these are things that normal businesses that are out there right now don’t necessarily have to think about on a daily basis. Healthy and safety is something we’ve been doing long before the coronavirus and we’ll be doing it long after the coronavirus is gone. This is just normal [expletive] for us.”
White has pressed forward with UFC 249 despite feverish criticism from the media in regards to the spread of COVID-19. He had also planned to go on with three UFC Fight Nights, which have since been postponed.