Bellator MMA has made the decision to postpone tonight’s event, Bellator 241, over concerns over athletes and personnel over concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The health and safety of everyone involved have, and will remain, our top priority as we move forward. After carefully monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, @BellatorMMA has chosen to postpone this evening’s Bellator 241 event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) March 13, 2020
Hours before fights were set to take place, Bellator 241 has been postponed due to concerns over the coronavirus. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com was first to report the news with Ariel Helwani of ESPN confirming the news soon afterward.
Bellator CEO Scott Coker later confirmed those reports.
The health and safety of everyone involved have, and will remain, our top priority as we move forward. After carefully monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, @BellatorMMA has chosen to postpone this evening’s Bellator 241 event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) March 13, 2020
Earlier in the week, the promotion had made the decision to move forward with the event without fans due to concerns over the coronavirus. As of Thursday evening, with fighters having already weighed in for the event, the event was still scheduled to go on air. On Friday morning, however, it appears the decision was made to pull the plug on the event to ensure the safety of both the athletes and personnel.
On Wednesday night, the reports of an NBA player testing positive for COVID-19 set off a chain of events of all major sports suspending play for the foreseeable future. Every league from the NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL, and the PGA have all announced that play is suspended. Events such as the Coachella music festival, E3 gaming convention, and more have all been postponed. Major motion pictures such as Fast 9 and the live action remake of Mulan have all announced the postponement of their premieres over concerns of the coronavirus.
Currently, Bellator is not set to hold another event until May 9 in San Jose but at this time it is unclear if it will be allowed to continue as the global crisis continues.
