UFC to move two shows planned for its training facility

Two UFC cards planned for the organization’s Apex facility in Las Vegas will no longer be held in the state, UFC president Dana White said Saturday night on SportsCenter.

While a Nevada Athletic Commission decision early Saturday to revoke all permits and programs of unarmed combat scheduled through March 25 did not directly impact the UFC’s announced shows on March 28 and April 11, White said the organization will seek new venues for those events.

“As of right now, the fights can’t happen in Nevada, so we’re working to find new locations,” UFC president Dana White said on SportsCenter. “But the fights will go on. They will continue. We’re not stopping. We’ll keep finding a way to put on fights.

“This is what we do. We always make sure the fights happen and they’ll continue to happen.”

The UFC can still apply to host the events at the commission’s next meeting on March 25, but White clearly believed its application was likely to be denied.

White also said the organization would move next Saturday’s scheduled event in London. White said the new venue will most likely be in the United States.

The organization had promoted the London card, which was set to proceed with a live audience, as late as Saturday afternoon during a live broadcast of a fight card in Brazil on ESPN. Additional travel restrictions to the United Kingdom implemented Saturday by the U.S. made hosting the event in England nearly impossible.

“Things are changing by the hour,” White said.

The UFC’s next pay-per-view event is slated for April 18 in Brooklyn, headlined by a lightweight title bout between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov that has already been postponed four times. That event is also likely to be relocated. White said the plan was for the event to possibly move to Las Vegas, but Saturday’s ruling could eliminate that possibility.

“Now the whole (NAC) thing went down, so we’re looking for another venue,” White said. “That fight will happen. It will go on. The fans are all freaking out about that, but don’t worry. Khabib vs. Tony will happen.”

Saturday’s emergency NAC meeting occurred via conference call as the commissioners assembled remotely to make sure no combat sports events would take place before the NAC had time to complete due diligence on the safety of staging events either with or without an audience.

The ruling only affected a scheduled Saturday night amateur MMA show and a Sunday afternoon amateur boxing event.

Tuff-N-Uff, an amateur MMA promotion, announced the cancellation of its Saturday card late Friday night on social media.

“The call just came from the Nevada State Athletic Commission,” the statement from Tuff-N-Uff CEO Jeff Meyer said. “I’m so sorry to everyone, but Tuff-N-Uff tomorrow has been canceled. The commission won’t even allow us to hold the event without the public.

“Please contact Ticketmaster, Cagetix or any Boyd Gaming box office for a refund and please stay safe and accept our most sincere apologies.”

Sunday’s amateur boxing event was to be hosted at Barry’s Boxing Center.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.