5 takeaways from UFC 249's cancellation

UFC 249 was canceled Thursday and the promotion postponed all subsequent events indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are five takeaways from UFC president Dana White and Co. finally tapping out after a hard-fought battle.

White didn't give up until he had no choice

One of the first things White said when he announced the cancellation of UFC 249 was that he still wanted to push through.

White insisted on continuing operations despite the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the rest of the sports world. And, even on Thursday when he confirmed all upcoming events are postponed indefinitely, that was no different.

"We're ready to go," White said.

Disney, UFC broadcast partner ESPN, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom were not, though, according to Kevin Draper and Oskar Garcia of The New York Times. White said top executives from the two companies asked him to "back down," and he obliged.

It's unclear exactly what was White's motive to hold a pay-per-view event during a global health crisis, even after lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov dropped off the card due to travel issues. Maybe it's the money, or maybe White wanted to prove people wrong after they said he wouldn't be able to hold events during the pandemic. Or maybe he just loves putting on fights.

Whatever the case may be, it doesn't really matter now. But it's still interesting to note that White never had a change of heart - far from it. He wanted to move forward with UFC 249 come hell or high water. Ultimately, it took someone with more power to stop him.

This was (obviously) the right call

For a moment, it appeared UFC 249 was actually going to happen despite all of the hurdles in its way.

The promotion found a location on tribal land in California and finalized a new main event between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Things looked somewhat promising.

But, ultimately, the right call was made.

Virtually every major sports organization in the world comprehends the fact that there are more important things right now, and they suspended operations as a result. Some did so immediately after the coronavirus pandemic grew more serious, while others took a little longer to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

It's not safe for professional sports to be played right now, and certainly not one in which two fighters try to physically hurt each other and can be left a bloody mess. At a time when people are being urged to stay home and practice social distancing, there's no need to gather several athletes at a casino in California so they can get in a fistfight in a cage.

Not a great look for the UFC

Bellator set an example when it canceled its March 13 event on fight day and later postponed its trio of cards set for May. Scott Coker and Co. were pretty quick to stand down to the pandemic; besides originally shifting the March 13 card to a closed-door event, they didn't try to fight back.

That's what the UFC should've done. It canceled three cards from March 21 to April 11, but indefinitely suspending all events should've been a no-brainer far sooner than just this week.

As Thursday's news proved, the UFC wouldn't have lost out on anything by calling off its upcoming events two weeks ago, because there was nothing to lose.

The promotion could have saved itself the scrutiny and bad press it received over the past two weeks, but it instead tried to pull off something that was almost certainly never going to happen in the first place.

Khabib-Ferguson no longer at risk of not happening

One of the biggest positives from this debacle is that there's a chance the cancellation saved the massive fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson. Had Gaethje upset Ferguson in the new April 18 headliner, which certainly was possible, the original bout - which is beyond overdue - would've been ruined for the foreseeable future, and potentially forever.

We've been waiting five years to see Nurmagomedov and Ferguson fight. Booking the latter in a short-notice bout against a dangerous opponent just for the sake of having an event on April 18 simply wasn't worth the risk of losing the preferred matchup.

Now, with the UFC on hiatus, it appears likely there won't be any reason to book either Nurmagomedov or Ferguson unless it's against each other. The former won't fight until the fall because he observes Ramadan, but it's unlikely the UFC would want to - or be able to - book it much before then, anyway. I expect the bout will get rescheduled as soon as the promotion resumes operations, and I'm thrilled we're still hopefully going to be able to (finally) see it.

Fight Island? Seriously?

Even while announcing the postponements, White couldn't stop himself from revealing that plans are still in place to hold events on a private island in a location yet to be announced in the not-too-distant future.

White said the infrastructure on "Fight Island" is being built right now and he expects to be able to fly his fighters there in about a month so they can train.

I'll be honest, I'm intrigued. Maybe the UFC can beat the pandemic if it's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? That's probably wishful thinking, but there's only one way to find out.