Khabib-Ferguson won't be in Brooklyn
The UFC's March 21 event will no longer take place in London, England, Dana White announced early Sunday morning on ESPN's "SportsCenter."
The move comes after the United States government extended its Europe travel restrictions to include the United Kingdom and Ireland in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Obviously, things are changing by the hour," White said. "This morning, they announced new travel restrictions for the U.K., so the fight obviously can't continue in London. But the fight will go on. We're working on finding a new venue, likely in the United States."
UFC London was scheduled to be headlined by a welterweight bout between Brit Leon Edwards and former champion Tyron Woodley. White said he's confident that Edwards-Woodley will remain the main event.
"I have my matchmakers literally working right now to put together the undercard," White said. "The bottom line is, that fight is happening, and that main event will go on."
White also announced that UFC 249, which is scheduled to be headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov versus Tony Ferguson, will not take place in Brooklyn, New York, as originally planned. He said he'll have "two venue options" for the April 18 pay-per-view by Sunday morning.
Additionally, White said the promotion's March 28 and April 11 events will need to find new homes. The two cards were originally scheduled for Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Oregon, respectively, but bans on mass gatherings in both states led to plans for the events to be held at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.
But on Saturday, the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) banned combat sports events from happening in the state until March 25, when a vote will be held to determine the status of future events.
"As of now, the fights can't happen at the Apex here in Las Vegas," White said. "So we're working to find new locations."
White is confident the promotion will find a way to move forward with all scheduled events.
"I'm in the fight business," he said. "I've been doing this for over 20 years, and this stuff happens to me every weekend. I'm used to this stuff. Not at this level, obviously, but this is what we do, and we always make sure that the fights happen, and they're going to continue to happen."