Not only is Dana White trying to defy the odds by still putting on the UFC 249 event on April 18th despite the coronavirus shutdown around the globe, but he’s also striving to make it the most stacked card they’ve ever done.
“We’re trying to build the baddest card that’s ever been done in the history of the sport,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “Some of the things are going to work out and some of the things might not work out. We’re trying to figure out if [some things] don’t work out, what we do.”
That claim comes on the same day that Francis Ngannou confirmed that he was now in talks to feature on the card after his UFC On ESPN 8 headliner with Jairzinho Rozenstruik was postponed indefinitely recently due to crowd restrictions in the U.S.
White has acknowledged that Ngannou’s fight with Rozenstruik is one that they are hoping to have on the card, though it should be noted that Rozenstruik’s management say they’ve not actually been contacted about this switch yet.
Of course the intention is to still have the main event be one of the biggest fights of the year as Khabib Nurmagomedov attempts to defend his lightweight title against Tony Ferguson, but it’s not clear whether other fights that were already assigned to the pay-per-view portion of the card like Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas II will remain on the line-up.
