UFC president Dana White is back targeting a return for the UFC with hopes of staging a card next month on Saturday, May 9th at an unknown location.
White spoke with ESPN and announced the date they were targeting along with a potential lineup of fights for this show.
When UFC 249 and its subsequent shows were indefinitely postponed last week, White said the UFC would be the first sports league to return and is hopeful they can stage a card in less than four weeks.
Plans to run the pay-per-view from the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoore, California was halted after Disney reportedly faced political pressure from California Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Dianne Feinstein. White said he was instructed from the highest level at Disney and ESPN to ‘stand-down’ and postpone their upcoming shows.
White revealed the following ‘targeted lineup’ to Brett Okamoto of ESPN for the proposed May 9th card, which was labeled as ‘subject to change’:
*Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje
*Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz
*Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer
*Francis Ngannou vs. Jaizinho Rozenstruik
*Calvin Kattar vs. Jeremy Stephens
*Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis
*Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan de Castro
*Aleksei Oleinik vs. Fabricio Werdum
*Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson
*Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price
*Charles Rosa vs. Bryce Mitchell
Okamoto added that ‘Some have verbally agreed, others are hesitant and want more details. Fighters want to fight but these are crazy circumstances, obviously’.
Nolan King at MMA Junkie added that: ‘According to numerous sources, some fighters on the planned May 9 card haven’t been notified they’ll definitively be fighting. The recent announcement from UFC president Dana White is largely news to them, as many hadn’t received official confirmation until now’.
The key will be Disney feeling comfortable allowing this card to go ahead after stepping in to stop the UFC’s plans.
The state of Florida has extended its parameters regarding what constitutes an ‘essential business’ to include:
Employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience – including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production – only if the location is closed to the general public.
This would suggest that the UFC would fall under the same category as WWE if they chose to attempt and hold a card from Florida.
