UFC President Dana White Says He's Secured a Private Island to Host Fights
UFC President Dana White has an elaborate scheme to continue MMA fights amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Following UFC 249’s cancellation in New York City due to the COVID-19 outbreak, White, 50, told ESPN MMA in a new interview that he’s secured two secret locations for upcoming UFC events — and one of them is a remote island.
“So this place, where this fight’s gonna be on April 18, I have locked up for two months,” he said. “So I’m going to continue to pump fights out.”
“I’ve also secured an island, I’ve got an island,” White added. “The infrastructure is being built right now. We are going to do all our international fights on this island. So on April 18 when we do this fight, international and in the United States, we’re going to start cranking. The UFC will be back up and running internationally and here in the states.”
“We’re going to get the fighters somewhere, and we’re going to bring them to this location. They won’t know where they’re headed to.”@danawhite explains the logistics of how fighters will be transported to the site of #UFC249, as well as the soon-to-be-secured private island. pic.twitter.com/KMPGZ0qc9Q
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 7, 2020
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White confirmed that with his remote locations, the UFC schedule could get back on track for their events on April 18 and April 25.
“We are going back to back-to-back,” he said. “We are getting back into our regular schedule. We will have postponed three fights, we’ll make all these fights up, and we’ll be right back on schedule starting April 18.”
So how will White transport all the fighters safely to this remote island? He has a plan for that, too — and it involves more secrets being kept from the fighters themselves.
“What we’re going to do is we’re gonna get the fighters somewhere and we’re gonna bring them to this location,” he claimed. “They won’t know where they are headed to. We’re working on it right now, but there is definitely gonna be some planes involved, especially for this island.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, nearly all sports events have been canceled or postponed indefinitely. The NBA and NHL have suspended their seasons, the MLB suspended spring training and delayed the start of their regular season, and the NFL Draft is going forward without fans in attendance.
WrestleMania was held this past weekend pre-taped and without a live audience for the first time ever. And the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been rescheduled a whole year to July 23, 2021.
