Answers are finally starting to emerge as to where the UFC plans to host it’s upcoming events.
While the UFC have not officially confirmed the destination for UFC 249 yet, strong rumors now suggest that the Tachi Palace casino in Lemoore, California may be the intended venue for it.
Sherdog.com founder Jeff Sherwood, who is based in Lemoore, claimed last night that not only UFC 249, but “the next 4 UFC events” will take place at the destination, which has hosted many MMA events over the years, and indeed also has it’s own branded Tachi Palace Fights promotion.
Meanwhile, Dana White himself has revealed that plans are also afoot to secure a more exotic location for future international fights during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been working on this thing since the world fell apart,” White told TMZ Sports. “Every day when we would work on something, we’d wake up the next day and the world would change, so this has definitely been the hardest thing that I’ve ever tried to do, ever.
“So I locked this venue [Note: believed to be the Tachi Palace] up for two months. I have this venue for two months, I’m setting up shop here. We’re gonna be pumping out fights every week.
“I am also a day or two away from securing a private island, I have a private island that I’ve secured, we’re getting the infrastructure put in now, so we’re gonna start doing international fights, too, with international fighters.
“Cause I won’t be able to get international fighters, all of em, into the US, so I have a private island, I’m gonna fly em all into the private island and have em doing international fights from there.”
The big risk with all this is that with fighters, ufc staff and officials flying in from all corners of the globe, someone could have contract coronavirus and pass it on to others, but White insists that everyone will be tested.
“First of all, there won’t be any fans at this thing. There will be no fans. And yes, everybody is gonna be pre-tested, tested and tested and tested.
“We’re gonna make sure that 100 percent healthy athletes, healthy athletic commission people, healthy judges, referees, my production people, that everybody there is gonna be healthy, we’re gonna make sure everybody’s gonna be safe.”
Meanwhile, White contradicted recent claims by Joe Rogan that he wouldn’t provide color commentary for UFC 249, by telling TMZ Sports that wasn’t true and that he would be there.
