Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White believes the mixed martial arts promotion is close to securing a "private island" to stage bouts for international fighters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
VIDEO SHOWS: FILE FOOTAGE OF UFC PRESIDENT, DANA WHITE, TONY FERGUSON, KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV AND CONOR MCGREGOR SHOWS: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - APRIL 6, 2018) (UFC - MUST COURTESY 'UFC') 1.
UFC PRESIDENT, DANA WHITE SPEAKING AT A NEWS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF UFC 223 NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - APRIL 8, 2018) (UFC - MUST COURTESY 'UFC') 2.
WHITE SPEAKING AT UFC 223 NEWS CONFERENCE LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 6, 2017) (UFC - MUST COURTESY 'UFC') 3.
VARIOUS OF TONY FERGUSON GETTING ON SCALES AND WEIGHING IN AT 155 POUNDS (70.3 KGS) AHEAD OF UFC 216 FIGHT AGAINST KEVIN LEE 4.
FERGUSON AND LEE STARING EACH OTHER DOWN WHILE EXCHANGING WORDS WITH WHITE KEEPING THEM APART NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 6, 2018) (UFC - MUST COURTESY UFC OR PROVIDE CREDIT IN COPY) 5.
LIGHTWEIGHT FIGHTER KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV GETTING ON SCALES AND WEIGHING IN AT 154.5 POUNDS (70.0 KGS) AHEAD OF UFC 223 LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (FILE - OCTOBER 5, 2018) (UFC - NO RESALES / MUST COURTESY 'UFC') 6.
VARIOUS OF NURMAGOMEDOV AND MCGREGOR STARING EACH OTHER DOWN / MCGREGOR HITTING NURMAGOMEDOV'S FIST AND KICKING OUT AT HIM WHILE UFC PRESIDENT DANA WHITE AND OTHER KEEP THE TWO APART 7.
FANS WATCHING ON AS WEIGH IN ENDS STORY: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has said the mixed martial arts promotion is close to securing a "private island" to stage bouts for international fighters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The flu-like virus has infected 1.27 million people globally and caused over 70,000 deaths and brought the sports world to a standstill, but the UFC plans to stick to its schedule albeit without fans in attendance.
The organisation, which was forced to postpone three events, will resume its calendar with UFC 249 on April 18 and White said he had also found a new venue for that event after the Barclays Center in New York was ruled out.
With countries locking down borders and tightening travel restrictions, White said he had a way to get his stable of non-U.S. based fighters back in action.
White said that he planned to put on fights every week and that all fighters, support staff as well as UFC crew would be tested for the virus regularly.
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was scheduled to meet American Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 but he said last week the fight was off as he is in quarantine in Russia.
Ferguson will now take on fellow American Justin Gaethje.
UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday that he will not proceed with the April 18 pay-per-view event.
