UFC postponing next three events, Dana White says

The UFC has postponed its next three events, the last of which was scheduled to take place on April 11, due to the ever-growing impact of the coronavirus.

UFC president Dana White alerted his entire staff of the decision via email on Monday.

According to White, the company was prepared to do whatever it took to move forward with UFC Fight Night events on March 21, March 28 and April 11, but the White House's recommendation to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people made hosting events impossible.

"As you've heard me say, I've been in the fight game for 20 years, and this is what we do: We find a way to keep our events going no matter what," White wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN. "But this is different. The whole world is being affected right now, and nothing is more important than the health and safety of you and your families."

In addition to postponing events, the UFC has closed its executive offices in Las Vegas.

Beyond April 11, the UFC's next pay-per-view event is scheduled to take place April 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The UFC 249 main event features a highly anticipated lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) and Tony Ferguson (25-3). According to the email, the UFC still plans to promote that event for now, either in New York or elsewhere.

Until Monday, the UFC was one of the last sports organizations in the world that had put off suspending play. The promotion held a UFC Fight Night event on Saturday in Brasilia, Brazil, without fans in the arena. Saturday's event was originally supposed to take place in London, but the UFC canceled those plans due to travel restrictions between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The UFC's original plan was to move the events to its Apex facility in Las Vegas, the site of its Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series. Those plans were nixed last weekend when the Nevada State Athletic Commission temporarily suspended all combat sports in the state.