Not only is Dana White insistent on making sure that Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson happens on April 18 despite the coronavirus outbreak, but he's also out to make UFC 249 the best card it could be.
The UFC president crashed ESPN's Brett Okamoto's Instagram Live session with Francis Ngannou on Wednesday morning and spoke about making UFC 249 "the baddest card that's ever been done," adding that Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik could very well get added to the event, which will be totally new by the time he gets done tinkering with it.
Adding Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik and other fights to make a totally new UFC 249 only ups that ante in White refusing to let the global pandemic of COVID-19 stop his company.
Earlier in the week, White told Yahoo Sports that UFC 249 will be a "closed event" without any fans, but he wouldn't reveal the location nor whether the company will test its fighters for the coronavirus.
"The less the media knows, the better," White told Yahoo Sports. "Let me just put it to you this way: A lot of this hysteria has been driven by the media. The less the media knows, the better off it is.
"We will make sure we take care of everybody like we always do. I'm not giving the public and the media all kinds of information on what I'm doing, but I'm not acting like some crazy rebel out here with the coronavirus. I've done everything I've been told to do."
Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik, originally slated for March 28 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, before an attempt to move it to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, was one of three UFC events postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Would he consider adding Tyron Woodley vs. Leon Edwards — another postponed fight — to UFC 249 as well?