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UFC 249 is sealed and delivered – signed, Dana White.
Just over two weeks ago, UFC President Dana White canceled UFC 249, after the April 18 card was nixed by ESPN and Disney executives due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But in canceling the event, White promised that his organization would be one of the first professional sports leagues to be up and running amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
By all indications, he fulfilled that promise on Friday.
UFC 249 will now take place on May 9 in Jacksonville, Florida, with no fans in attendance. It will be headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.
The co-main event will feature a bantamweight title tilt between champion Henry Cejudo and former champion Dominick Cruz.
UFC wouldn't be bringing itself to fans again if not for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis deeming sports "an essential business" just over 10 days ago.
White has also been working on hosting fights at a remote location that he has dubbed "Fight Island."
On Friday, he said Fight Island was nearing completion, and that fighters would be able to live and train on the island, and UFC would hold entire cards on the island.
With Florida opening its doors to the UFC and the development of Fight Island, White is planning to have the UFC schedule back on-track for the summer, after having to cancel or postpone several events in recent weeks.
As far as UFC 249, it was originally supposed to take place on April 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and feature a much-anticipated lightweight title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Ferguson, the No. 1 contender in the division.
However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo put strict restrictions on mass gatherings, meaning UFC 249 would have to find a new location. In addition, Nurmagomedov traveled back to his home country of Russia and was then unable to fly back into the United States.
Stepping in for Khabib is lightweight veteran Justin Gaethje, who is coming off of back-to-back KO wins over Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone.
Ferguson is undefeated in his last 12 fights and hasn't suffered only one loss since 2009.
In the co-main event, UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo will defend his bantamweight title against former bantamweight king and UFC veteran Dominick Cruz.
Cejudo won a split decision over long-time flyweight king Demetrious Johnson to win the flyweight belt at UFC 227 in Aug. 2014. He defended the belt against T.J. Dillashaw in Jan. 2019 at UFC Fight Night, winning by first round TKO. He then won the vacant bantamweight belt with a 3rd round TKO of Marlon Moraes at UFC 239 in June 2019.
Cruz has been sidelined for over three years due to injuries, and last fought in Dec. 2016, losing the bantamweight championship via decision to Cody Garbrandt. However, before that, he held the belt dating back to 2011.
UFC 249 will be an event to remember.
Here's to live sports being back.
