Where oh where will UFC 249 be?
That’s the big question just two weeks away from the big pay-per-view (PPV) event, one even now-former headliner, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was stuck repeating over and over again as the date quickly approaches (details).
With California and Nevada’s athletic commissions shutting down all combat in those states, we know where it won’t be. Rumors continue to swirl that Florida is one of the last of the United States irresponsible enough to sanction the event, and I suppose we can’t rule out an old school return to some out of the way Native American reservation.
Meanwhile, International events also abound: Khabib claimed UFC had Dubai as a high possibility location. If Dubai is in the running we imagine UFC’s middle eastern partner-country of Abu Dhabi is also in the running. But if they’d like an option without all that glitz and glamour and a willingness to splash huge wads of cash everywhere to make things happen, there’s always Belarus!
”We offered specific arenas which could host the UFC,” Maxim Korolkov, head of the Belarus Federation of Hand to Hand Fighting & MMA said (via RT Sports). “One of them is the Minsk Arena, which can hold 15,000 people.”
Yes, you read that right. Not only is Korolkov saying, ‘Hey, UFC can hold the event in Belarus!’ He’s saying, ‘You can hold it in front of 15,000 fans in Belarus.’ And that’s not just talk — we’re a few days into April and the country’s main football league continues to hold games in front of fans.
Belarus has 562 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and eight deaths.
“We received an oral reply [from the UFC],” Korolkov continued. “Firstly, we were thanked for the offer. Secondly, our proposal was included as a conditional ‘plan B’. They already have venues for this tournament. Dana White does not want to report this, but they have well-developed options. In any case, they are grateful and ready to consider our option with Minsk for future UFC tournaments.”
With UFC resisting calls to shut down the league, all these back up options could come in handy for future events.
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