The ongoing, worldwide coronavirus pandemic has claimed another on-site location from the upcoming UFC schedule.
UFC 251 was scheduled to be held in Perth, Australia on June 6 (June 7 locally). The card was expected to be headlined by a rematch between featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champ Max Holloway.
Monday, however, the UFC announced the event at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia, which was slated to be the company’s first in the city since UFC 221, was officially postponed, due to ongoing bans on mass public gatherings and travel restrictions.
“Due to current state and national restrictions on public gatherings and travel, UFC 251 originally scheduled for Perth, Western Australia on Sunday, June 7 (Saturday, June 6 in North America) has been postponed,” the company stated. “UFC looks forward to returning to Perth in the near future with a PPV event in partnership with tourism Western Australia.”
The company made the announcement over its Australia/New Zealand Twitter page:
A statement on #UFC251 pic.twitter.com/KDgikDBp95
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) May 5, 2020
This marks the second international pay-per-view event the company had to postpone due to the virus. UFC 250 was scheduled for Saturday in Brazil. That venue was scrapped, and May 9 will instead feature a rescheduled UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Fla.
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The Jacksonville card, which will be headlined by Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight belt, is the first of three events to be held in the Florida city, with cards also going down on May 13 and May 16.
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