If the combat sports world wants to continue to hold events, there are now limited locations to do so.
According to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, the California State Athletic Commission has halted all combat sports from taking place until at least the end of May. This was due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it is unknown if events will even continue after.
“The Commission didn’t take this decision lightly and understands the potential economic loss to promoters and the industry of combative sports,” the CSAC stated. “We had to weigh the best interest of our fighters and the community around us.”
The CSAC is just the latest entity to put an end to combat sports happening. The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended all events until March 25. They were going to reconvene but cancelled the meeting as a result of the coronavirus. The New York Athletic Commission barred all events with 10+ people from taking place, with Governor Andrew Cuomo as the leader of the ruling. This was due to avoid UFC 249 taking place inside the Barclays Center.
Several upcoming events will now either be postponed or will need to find new homes. That includes UFC San Diego, set to take place on May 16. The main event would have been Dustin Poirier v. Dan Hooker. Bellator has already had to cancel two events set to take place in California in Bellator 242 (May 9) and Bellator 243 (May 29). Boxing cards featuring Golden Boy events have also been nixed. One of those was a potential Canelo Alvarez v. Billy Joe Saunders bout.
The coronavirus has affected a number of combat sports around the world. According to the latest from CNN, there are over 1,002,159 cases of the virus with over 51,485 deaths. California alone has over 10,000 confirmed cases.