The coronavirus has now officially affected every major American sporting league. The last holdout had been the UFC, which staged a Fight Night card last Saturday in Brazil with no fans allowed in attendance. UFC president Dana White was hoping to continue in that manner during this crisis, but on Monday he finally surrendered to the obvious and canceled the next three cards on the schedule. Those were:
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 171 event from London highlighted by a matchup between former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Leon Edwards.
A March 28 UFC on ESPN card from Columbus, Ohio, headlined by a heavyweight bout between former title contender Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
An April 11 UFC Fight Night 172 card from Portland, Oregon, headlined by a bout between former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris.
It should be noted those cards aren’t canceled as of now but postponed. The UFC is even closing its offices in Las Vegas until at least the end of this month with employees working from home.
The next card on the organization’s schedule is a huge UFC 249 event on April 18, which was originally scheduled for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Unbeaten lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to headline that card, putting his belt on the line against former interim champion Tony Ferguson.
White, though, has admitted that it’s far from a sure thing that card will go on as scheduled and it’s likely going to have to be outside the country because large gatherings are not currently recommended in the USA per a decree from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Khabib is listed as the -300 favorite for the bout, with Ferguson at odds of +230. Those two had been scheduled to fight a whopping four times in the past, but it was always canceled for one reason or another.
Nurmagomedov (28-0) is a 31-year-old Russian ranked as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter behind light heavyweight king Jon Jones. There is definitely talk of those two battling it out eventually, although Jones seems to have his sights set on facing heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic first and foremost.
The 36-year-old Ferguson (25-3), from California, is on a 12-fight winning streak, last beating Donald Cerrone by second-round knockout at UFC 238. Ferguson beat Kevin Lee in October 2017 for the interim lightweight belt. Ferguson hasn’t been a betting underdog since he was a slight one on November 5, 2016, against former champion Rafael dos Anjos, and won by unanimous decision.
