Dana White says Fight Island will be off and running within a month

In a sudden turnaround of events, after weeks of painstaking efforts to hold a combat sports event during these trying times, UFC 249 has finally been announced as cancelled and all upcoming UFC events have been postponed indefinitely by the very man who promised that the PPV will go ahead with the scheduled April 18 date - Dana White.

White promised that UFC 249 would be the "baddest card in the promotion's history", with a blockbuster headliner featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for the UFC lightweight title. However, when Khabib was forced to pull out of the event due to a flight ban in his country Russia, the promotion locked in on Justin Gaethje as the replacement and proceeded with the card.

Then came the second blow, when one half of the co-headliners of the event and former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas pulled out her name from the rematch against Jessica Andrade due to two deaths in Namajunas' family due to the coronavirus. Finally, White confirmed yesterday that the PPV is indeed being cancelled. He also promised that UFC will resume its live events schedule as soon as possible.

“While the organization was fully prepared to proceed with UFC 249, ESPN has requested the postponement of the event and subsequent bouts until further notice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. UFC looks forward to resuming the full live events schedule as soon as possible.”

To resume the live events schedule, White has a master plan. In an unprecedented move, the UFC front man revealed he is buying an island where he can hold shows for international fighters unable to get into the United States due to current travel restrictions. He also has plans to ensure that there are no concerns about the safety of the fighters and other staff involved by screening fighters and all other event attendees prior to the event.

White further claimed that UFC will be the first combat sport promotion to get back to business as usual in the United States.

“We will be the first sport back. ‘Fight Island’ is real. It’s a real thing. The infrastructure’s being built right now, and that’s really going to happen and it will be on ESPN.”