LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 21: UFC President Dana White heads into the gym to watch Hector Aldana face Enrique Marin in the semi-finals during the filming of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America: Team Gastelum vs Team Escudero on April 21, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Report: UFC closing in on venue for UFC 249, west coast venue possible
After weeks of uncertainty the UFC may have finally found their home for their UFC 249 pay-per-view event.
Late Sunday evening Ariel Helwani of ESPN was first to report that the company was closing in on a location for the event, but nothing was official as of yet. Helwani’s report added that the event is likely to take place in the United States, and it’ll be somewhere on the west coast.
While there is no official location known just yet, Helwani also included that the UFC is likely to use the same location for more of their upcoming events. Back in March the UFC had to postpone three of their events due to restrictions put in place in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear what the UFC will do with the postponed fights, but Dana White did provide some news when he announced that he will reveal the fight card on Monday. White revealed he will announce the fight card while responding to a parody Twitter account of ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani.
Absolutely NOT true!!! The card is happening but @TeamKhabib is out. I will announce the entire card tomorrow.
— danawhite (@danawhite) April 6, 2020
Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov had been scheduled to defend his title against Tony Ferguson but as White noted, that will not be happening. Nurmagomedov recently spoke about his status of the event, saying he was stuck in Russia and unable to leave due to travel restrictions, but never said he pulled out of the event.
With Nurmagomedov likely out of the event, it was reported that Justin Gaethje would replace Nurmagomedov in a fight against Ferguson. The fight has not been agreed to as of yet, but it could be a part of Dana White’s announcement.
TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter reported that not only is Khabib Nurmagomedov unlikely to be on the card, Islam Makhachev who was set to face Alex Hernandez, is not going to be on it either.
While this was mostly a foregone conclusion given the status of Khabib Nurmagomedov, I'm told that Islam Makhachev will also not be competing at UFC 249.
Alexander Hernandez is currently without an opponent, but the present expectation is that he will compete on the card.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) April 6, 2020
Bronsteter added that managers for fights are likely to be informed of the event location on Monday as well.
Per sources, the expectation is that managers will be informed of the location for UFC 249 sometime tomorrow.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) April 6, 2020
This latest news comes as a major uplift to the UFC as Dana White has been open and public about his endlessness work to make sure the event would go on as scheduled.
The fights at UFC 249 will more than likely look much different than originally planned, but there will reportedly soon be answers for the event.
