UFC London Canceled, Could More Fights Be Postponed?

• The main event fight between Tyron Woodley & Leon Edwards was canceled.
• The UFC is currently trying to move international fights back into the United States.
• UFC President Dana White is adamant about still having the fights go on as planned.

LONDON – The Coronavirus has caused the entire world to shift with many people’s daily lives altered by the global pandemic. The sports world has taken a major hit as many major sporting events have been postponed or canceled.

Despite the other major sports events being canceled, the UFC has been adamant that it will continue and only a United States nationwide quarantine will stop the fights from happening.

This leaves UFC betting as one of if not the most popular form of sports betting at the moment.

“This morning they announced new travel restrictions for the UK so the fights can’t continue in London. But the fights will go on. We’re working on finding a new venue, likely in the United States, and I have my matchmakers literally working right now to put on the undercard. So the bottom line is that fight is happening, and that main event will go on,” said UFC President Dana White on Saturday.

The UFC recently held its Fight Night 170 in Brazil with no fans allowed to be in attendance and that could be the new norm for the sport until the global threat of the coronavirus has subsided.

Although the fights in London have been canceled, this opens the opportunity for these fights to happen on US soil. Although, the fight card will have to be changed drastically for the fights to still happen.

The biggest change on the fight card would be the main event fight between Tyron Woodley and Leon Edwards. Woodley has already posted on social media that he will be fighting on Saturday with no word on who his opponent will be yet.

UFC Prop Bets

The sportsbook BetOnline has released odds on if the United States government will indeed step in and force the UFC to cancel events by June 30th.

Winner: No (+110), The UFC will continue to hold its fights as planned just as President Dana White has said. The government may place limits on the number of people that can be in attendance for the fights. Take the “No” odds at +110 because that’s where the profit lies in this bet and the UFC has been unwavering in its attempts to keep fights going.

Winner: No, (-300) UFC 249 is the highly anticipated fight that features lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defending his title against Tony Ferguson certainly won’t happen in Brooklyn, but the UFC is working on finding a venue to hold the fight. With the UFC already searching for a new venue to host the mega-fight bettors may be able to win this bet before it gets taken down by the sportsbook.

UFC President Dana White told the media that he’s already started looking for a new venue for the fight.

“So we had possibly a couple of different venues for that fight, including Nevada,” he said. “So now the whole Nevada thing went down so we’re looking for another venue. I hope by 10 o’clock tomorrow morning I should have two venue options for that fight. That fight will happen, it will go on. And the fans are all freaking out about that – do not worry. Khabib vs. Tony will happen.”

As the United States starts to take the coronavirus more seriously this could seriously impact the UFC season and if Dana White won’t cancel the events the onus might be on state legislators and the federal government to shut down the UFC.

Until then expect the UFC to keep exploring possible venues in different states to host their fight and expect legal sports betting sites to keep posting lines for the sport.

News tags: Coronavirus | Dana White | Leon Edwards | Tyron Woodley | UFC | UFC Fight Night London