Khabib Nurmagomedov on coronavirus threat to UFC 249 – ‘what will happen no one knows’

It’s becoming more likely by the day that UFC 249 will be affected in some way by the escalating coronavirus outbreak in the US. But UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is keeping calm.

MMA fans are crossing their fingers that Khabib vs Tony Ferguson won’t be cancelled for the fifth time, though there has been no official statement from the UFC just over four weeks out from the fight.

“I don’t understand what is going on outside the gym. I am in the gym and I am working hard,” he wrote in an Instagram post, alongside a selection pictures of himself doing just that.

“What will happen next no one knows.”

Indeed nothing is certain regarding the April 18 show at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.

But New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday the state was banning all gatherings of 500 people or more to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

UFC president Dana White has confirmed UFC Brasilia will go ahead behind closed doors at the 11,000-seat capacity Nilson Nelson Gymnasium this weekend.

UFC on ESPN 8 in Columbus will also be moved to an empty UFC APEX studio on the company’s Las Vegas campus later this month.

The APEX could very well be the contingency plan for UFC 249, which should at least give some comfort to Khabib – and it’s just as well.

When the subject of the event being cancelled was brought up with the Russian at a Dominance MMA media event in Las Vegas last weekend, a day after Khabib and Ferguson had traded barbs at an official press conference, he did not seem best pleased.

“Please, please, please, please,” Khabib replied to a media scrum. “Don’t talk about this, please.

“I don’t wanna … because I see how they cancel Champions League, Serie A soccer, because I’m a very big fan of soccer. But I don’t want to talk about this, please.”