As most sporting leagues around the world cancel seasons and furlough staff amid the coronavirus pandemic, UFC President Dana White has secured an unlikely venue to keep his fighting series afloat: a private island.
White told TMZ on Tuesday that he plans to fly fighters to a private island for fights that will be staged every week and are set to begin after the upcoming UFC 249 between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje on April 18.
“This is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do — ever,” White said. “I’m a day or two away from securing a private island.”
He continued: “We’re getting the infrastructure put in now, so I’m going to start doing the international fights too with international fighters because I won’t be able to get international fighters, all of them into the U.S., so I have a private island. I’m going to start flying them all into the private island and doing international fights from there. So as of April 18, the UFC is back up and running.”
White joked that he might call the series “island fights” before adding that the UFC will use private airplanes to transport fighters to the unnamed island. As many leagues across the globe have shuttered because of fears sparked by COVID-19, White has remained flexible in his attempt to keep the UFC moving ahead with out-of-the-box thinking.
“This is something you could never prepare for, plan for, or even dream that any of this is possible,” said White. “Las Vegas is shut down. No casinos are open for a month or maybe more. I never thought I’d see that in my lifetime.”
He added that “everybody is going to be pretested” and that he would make sure that “everybody there is going to be healthy … before, during, and after the fights.” UFC 249 between Ferguson and Gaethje will be fought in a secret location after a high-profile, last-minute scratch by Russian lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who withdrew his name over fears for his health.
