UFC Back In Action With UFC 249 Scheduled For Fan-less Arena In Jacksonville, Florida May 9

By Cassandra Cousineau for LVSportsBiz.com 

UFC President Dana White will not be denied.

Dana White is moving ahead with the UFC 249 fight show as most of the country — and the sports industry — is on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

White will be taking his UFC fighters and multiple cards to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, with the always enthusiastic White describing the UFC 249 card as “stacked.”

UFC 249 is scheduled for May 9, while other UFC fight events are slated for May 13 and May 16.

The 15,000-seat arena in Jacksonville in northern Florida an hour south of the Georgia state line will sit empty without fans.

No. 1 ranked lightweight contender Tony Ferguson is back in business, but he will not fight current division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov was stuck in his home country of Russia and was forced to pull out of the fight due to travel restrictions imposed as the coronavirus health crisis swept the world.

Instead, Ferguson will tangle with No.4 ranked Justin Gaethje for an interim championship instead.

White has substantially tampered down his forge-ahead bravado since the original UFC 249 date of April 18  was officially postponed after ESPN and parent company Disney brass asked White “to stand down.” UFC was planning to stage the card on a Native American reservation in California after the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, shut down because of the pandemic. But Disney, ESPN’s owners, said no to the tribal venue outside Fresno, California.

Just this week, welterweight Lyman Good revealed he, his live-in girlfriend, and one of his coaches tested positive for COVID-19.  His training partners are negative. Initially scheduled to appear on the 249 card,  the 34-year-old withdrew from his bout against Belal Muhammad with a so-called  injury. In recent interviews, he shared that UFC officials knew the real reason. There hasn’t been a comment from the promotion regarding Lyman’s status.

Good became the first UFC fighter to publicly confirm he’d been stricken with the virus. Evlolve fighter Roger Gracie and Bellator’s Erick Silva also confirmed they had the virus. Combate reported that the 35-year-old Silva, his 23-year-old wife, his five-month-old son, and his 10-year-old son were all infected as well. Additionally, Silva’s 26-year-old sister-in-law and 58-year-old father and 52-year-old mother-in-law tested positive.

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FERGUSON vs. GAETHJE will take place Saturday, May 9 with all prelim bouts will to be simulcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ in English and Spanish beginning at 6:30 p.m. Henry Cejudo will meet Dominick Cruiz in the co-main event.

“I can’t wait to deliver some great fights for the fans, “ White said in a UFC statement. “I want to give a big thanks to Mayor Curry, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and Florida State Boxing Commission Executive Director Patrick Cunningham for getting this thing done and giving us a venue to put on these incredible cards, as well our media partners including ESPN and ESPN+, for bringing it to fans. My team is ready to go and the fighters are excited to get back in there with these back-to-back events.”

Here’s the mayor of Jacksonville. “As we move step-by-step on the path toward economic recovery, we are proud to host these UFC events at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena,”Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said. “The UFC organization is a renowned entertainment brand that’s presented a safe and sensible plan to use this Jacksonville location, and we are thrilled to have our city highlighted nationally on ESPN and ESPN+. With Jacksonville continuing to outpace other cities and regions, we are excited to continue to lead as host to these world-class, international sports entertainment organizations.”

As of today,  922,000 cases of the virus have resulted in 52,220 deaths. Of which 27,869 have been “confirmed in Florida resulting in 867 deaths. Which brings up the question, how safe of an environment can White and his team create for fighters, their camps, and all staff involved? He’s refused to say what testing protocol will be, or if he’s considered the additional stress of sending fighters to local hospitals will bring to already taxed medical professionals.

Here’s the official line-up per UFC PR communications:

•         No. 2 ranked heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou (14-3, fighting out of Paris, France by way of Batie, Cameroon) vs No. 6 Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10-0, fighting out of Paramaribo, Suriname)

 

•         No. 7 ranked Jeremy Stephens (28-17, 1 NC, fighting out of San Diego California by way of Des Moines, Iowa) vs. No. 9 Calvin Kattar (20-4, fighting out of Methuen, Massachusetts)

 

•         Donald Cerrone (36-14, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) vs. Anthony Pettis (22-10, fighting out of Milwaukee, Wisc.)

 

•         Greg Hardy (6-2, 1NC, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Florida vs. undefeated Yorgan De Castro (5-0, fighting out of Fall River, Massachusetts by way of Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde)

 

•         Aleksei Oleinik (58-13, fighting out of Moscow, Russia) vs. Fabricio Werdum (23-7, fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif.)

 

•         Ryan Spann (17-5, fighting out of Beaumont, Texas)  vs.  Sam Alvey (33-13, 1NC, fighting out of Temecula, California)

 

•         Former UFC women’s strawweight champion and No. 7 ranked Carla Esparza (16-6, fighting out of Irvine, Calif.) vs No. 8 Michelle Waterson (17-7, fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.)

 

•         Uriah Hall (16-9, fighting out of Queens, New York) vs Jacare Souza (26-8, 1NC, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

 

•         No. 13 ranked contender Vicente Luque (17-7-1, fighting out of Westwood, New Jersey by way of Brasilia, Brazil) vs. Niko Price (14-3, 1NC, fighting out of Cape Coral, Florida)

 

•         Bryce Mitchell (12-1, fighting out of Sherwood, Ark.) vs. Charles Rosa (12-3, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla.)

 

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