Dana White Has UFC Contingency Plans in Place if Las Vegas Shuts Down Again

As COVID-19 cases surge back up in Nevada, MMA fans are wondering about the UFC’s planned shows in the state. However, Dana White has plans in place. White spoke with the media for a conference promoting UFC on ESPN+ 30 and discussed the possibility of Las Vegas shutting back down and how he’s put some contingency plans in place.

“Can you imagine?” Dana White said when asked about the possibility of Las Vegas shutting down again. “Can you imagine? Listen, I’m always a worst-case scenario guy. I’m always looking at what the possibilities are. And I was thinking this two months ago, not just now. But you know, you ask any of my guys, they’ll tell you. I’ve been saying, ‘You think this is just going away?’ People are like, ‘Ah, the heat, when the heat comes.’ Well, there’s a lot of places out there right now that are hot that are still dealing with this thing, so I don’t see what the heat has to do with it. I don’t know.”

White continued, “So, like I say, nobody seems to be an expert on this thing but you know, I have some backup plans. It’s not ideal, it’s not what I want to do. I want to stay in Vegas, I think we’ve proved not only in Vegas but in other parts of the world and other parts of the country, we can pull this off safely and not hurt anybody. And hopefully we have that opportunity to do that in our hometown, where it would be a lot safer for all of us. So I hope that’s the case. We’ll see.”

The UFC’s next two shows, Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 30 and July 26th’s UFC on ESPN 14, set for Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. August is currently set to have shows in Las Vegas, though that could of course change depending on the situation. You can see the full media scrum below per MMA Weekly: