UFC President Dana White says that it was Disney and ESPN that asked him to stand down and not hold any events for the time being.
“Today we got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney and the highest level of ESPN,” White said in an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN (via Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). “One thing that I’ve said since we’ve started our relationship and partnership with ESPN is that it’s been an incredible one. It’s been an amazing partnership. ESPN has been very, very good to us, and the powers that be there asked me to stand down and not do this event next Saturday.”
Reports have suggested that the next few months worth of events would’ve been held at the Tachi Palace Resort Casino, but neither White of the UFC ever confirmed an exact location.
White does promise that the UFC is going to be the first sport back and that “fight island” is still in the process of being built.
“We will be the first sport back,” White said. “‘Fight Island’ is real. It’s a real thing. The infrastructure’s being built right now, and that’s really going to happen and it will be on ESPN.”
The UFC could take a massive financial hit due to the postponements, as the promotion was set to be paid $750 million by ESPN for reaching a certain quota of events in 2020.
