Dana White says UFC 249 venue secret ‘to keep creepy people at bay’ during coronavirus lockdown
- ‘There’s a lot of creepy people out there, and when they find out the location they start making phone calls,’ says White
- UFC president says there will be drug testing and an athletic commission – ‘the whole deal, just like a normal event’
Dana White may have finally confirmed a location for UFC 249, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to reveal it.
The UFC president confirmed the endangered April 18 event is officially on, with Justin Gaethje stepping in to fight Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title. Lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov is stranded in his native Russia where the borders are closed.
Originally set for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the UFC had to scramble for a new venue amid the escalation of the Covid-19 outbreak in the US. Abu Dhabi was strongly touted – hence why Nurmagomedov left his San Jose, California training camp to fly there, before being sent back to Russia.
But now it’s back on in the US, reportedly at the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Northern California on Native American land (where the state’s commission has no control), though White isn’t confirming anything.
“It doesn’t matter where it’s happening because nobody can go anyway, nobody can show up,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “Some members of the media have reached out to me that want to go. I’ll bring them, but other than that it’s not open to the fans. It’s on ESPN. That’s all anybody needs to know.
“There’s a lot of creepy people out there, you know, and when they find out the location they start attacking the location and making phone calls, so this keeps the creeps at bay.”