UFC 249 Will Finally Be Held On Saturday

Dana White has said that UFC 249 is a go! The card that features Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje will air on Saturday. The UFC will make itself one of the first professional sports organizations to hold an event since the coronavirus outbreak.
White attempted to hold this event in April but was told to “stand down” by executives from Disney and ESPN. If it were up to him, the UFC would have never stopped through COVID-19. Some are saying that now he is being reckless, but he insists that someone has to be the first one back.
“I’m not out there trying to kill myself. And I don’t want to kill any of my employees or their families,” White told SI.com’s Greg Bishop. “It’s not like we’re running around with no plan. The thing is: Let’s find solutions.”
He went on to discuss that there will be plenty of procedures to ensure everyone stays safe. White said that there were going so much overboard that he didn’t see a way that they could “(expletive) this up.”
There will be no fans in attendance and only around 150 people in the building. White continues to pay his employees to push this card.
“We’re talking about fighters who want to go in and want to compete,” White told Yahoo Sports. “Everybody who is involved in this event wants to be involved in this event. From my employees on up.”
The Popularity Will Rise
Not only will this make the UFS one of the first sports organizations back, but Dana White can take advantage of that. Many fans that normally wouldn’t tune in to mixed martial arts will be drawn to the one sporting event that is still on TV.
Ferguson and Gaethje will highlight the event in an empty VyStar Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., for the interim lightweight title. Ferguson was initially supposed to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, but he went back to Russia and cannot travel back due to the coronavirus.
UFC 249 Fight Card
- Tony Ferguson -180 vs. Justin Gaethje +155 — Interim lightweight title
- Henry Cejudo (c) -220 vs. Dominick Cruz +180 — bantamweight title
- Francis Ngannou -260 vs. Jair Rozenstruik +210 — Heavyweights
- Calvin Kattar -240 vs. Jeremy Stephens +200 — Featherweights
- Greg Hardy -195 vs. Yorgan De Castro +165 — Heavyweights
- Anthony Pettis -150 vs. Donald Cerrone +125 — Welterweights
- Vicente Luque -270 vs. Niko Price +220 — Welterweights
- Fabricio Werdum -300 vs. Aleksei Oleinik +240 — Heavyweights
- Ronaldo Souza -125 vs. Uriah Hall +105 — Middleweights
- Carla Esparza -160 vs. Michelle Waterson +135 — Women’s strawweights
- Bryce Mitchell -180 vs. Charles Rosa +155 — Featherweights
- Ryan Spann -420 vs. Sam Alvey +330 — Light heavyweights
As far as any bad press for this event, White isn’t too worried. He believes that some sports organizations caved to the pressure.
“They didn’t want any bad press,” White told SI.com. “You’re telling me people couldn’t go out and golf with no crowds? C’mon. That’s ridiculous. They caved to the media pressure. People couldn’t race cars? Maybe there’s more to car racing than I understand? Are there too many people together in the pit? But I imagine they could’ve raced cars, too, with no crowd.”
The event will be on ESPN+ PPV.