UFC president Dana White assures that all fights that were called off will be rescheduled.
On Monday, White said the main event between former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Leon Edwards, which was meant for this past weekend in London, will be rebooked for a later date, along with all the other fights.
The UFC was forced to postpone three events amid the global coronavirus pandemic. That included UFC on ESPN+ 29 in London, UFC on ESPN 8 in Columbus, Ohio, headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and UFC on ESPN+ 30 in Portland, Ore., headlined by Alistair Overeem vs. Walt Harris.
“All these fights are being rescheduled,” White told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. “Once we get the Khabib fight on, we’re rolling, man. We’re back in business, and we’re rolling. And like I told you earlier, everybody that’s going to fight because they want to, not because they have to.”
The UFC fought hard to make UFC on ESPN+ 29 happen by trying to move the event from London to the U.S., but travel bans implemented to slow down the spread of COVID-19 made it impossible to pull off one week after the UFC went through with UFC on ESPN+ 28 in Brazil behind closed doors.
Colby Covington, who Woodley (19-4-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) already has history with, had offered to step in on short notice after Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) technically was the one who withdrew. But a ramped-up public gathering ban in the U.S. put a halt to those plans.
While Woodley seemed to like the possibility of a potential Covington showdown, saying that he now only wants to fight him, Covington is no longer interested, and it appears the UFC is looking to rebook the Edwards fight.
