KNOCKED OUT

Disney and ESPN Step In to Put a Stop to UFC 249 Event

Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championships, had vowed to hold the April 18 fight on tribal land to skirt coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 249 event scheduled for April 18 has been canceled after ESPN and its parent company Disney stepped in. UFC President Dana White had planned to hold the pay-per-view TV event to be aired on ESPN on tribal land in California’s Central Valley to get around coronavirus restrictions, but Disney has now stopped the plan. “I was ready to go on Saturday, but Disney and ESPN asked me to step down,” White wrote in a statement. “I love and respect my partnership with them so I postponed the event.” White had insisted he could maintain safety at the event, and still plans to telecast small fight shows between non-American fighters on a yet-unidentified private island to skirt regulations. ESPN issued a statement to the Associated Press. “ESPN has been in constant contact with the UFC regarding UFC 249,” the statement reads. “Nobody wants to see sports return more than we do, but we didn’t feel this was the right time for a variety of reasons. ESPN expressed its concerns to the UFC and they understood.”