Dana White confirms that UFC 249 is officially canceled

In the latest turn of shocking events, UFC President Dana White has officially confirmed that the upcoming UFC 249 pay-per-view has been canceled due to the massive COVID-19 outbreak around the globe.

UFC President Dana White spoke to Brett Okamoto about #UFC249 no longer taking place on April 18. (via @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/VRP5jL3k9J

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 9, 2020

Dana White confirms that UFC 249 is officially canceled

During his recent conversation with ESPN's Brett Okamoto, UFC President Dana White confirmed that UFC 249 has officially been called-off due to the global health crisis around the world that has been caused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There was no surprise to the fact that the UFC tried their absolute best to get the show going for next week, so much so, that even Justin Gaethje decided to step in on short notice to replace Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 249 after the Russian was stuck in his native land.

However, Dana White eventually went on record to confirm the fact that higher-ups from both Disney and ESPN have told the UFC President to NOT conduct the event next Saturday and it has also been noted that future UFC events have all been canceled until further notice.

"Today we got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney, and the highest level at ESPN. ESPN has been very very good to us, and the powers that be there asked me to stand down and not do this event next Saturday."

With UFC 249 now officially called-off, it is likely that the promotion will re-book all the scheduled fights over the course of future events and as of now, we can just hope that things quickly get back to normal and we get to witness some of the finest fighters back in Octagon action.