"The show must and most certainly will go on," says Dana White on UFC 249

The location, as well as the main event of UFC 249, is still up in the air with the exclusion of the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov due to a travel ban in Russia and that leaves many wondering if the promotion will at all go ahead with the announced April 18 date but president Dana White has an answer - Yes!

We had earlier informed that the UFC has approached top contender Justin Gaethje to step up and fill in for the undefeated Dagestani on short notice but that too, hasn't been confirmed yet. However, regardless of either Khabib or Gaethje's participation in the pay-per-view, the show will go on, says White. In an appearance on the Heavyweight podcast, White said that in spite of the numerous obstacles they are facing, the UFC will indeed go ahead with UFC 249 on April 18.

“Everything that I worked hard on the day before, me and my crew, has now fallen apart. I woke up today and Khabib Nurmagomedov is in Russia and they just shut down all travel in and out of Russia. I have people working on this thing as we speak. Listen, I am absolutely (expletive) relentless and I said that this fight [card] is going to go on and it will.”

As the UFC continues its quest to find a location and venue for the event, White says that he will disclose nothing related to the same until he believes is the right time to let everyone know, but he said one thing is for sure - no matter what, UFC 249 is taking place on the scheduled April 18 date.

“A lot of these media guys are absolute and total scumbags. As soon as you let them know what you’re doing, all they’re trying to do is f*ck up everything that you’ve worked. I’m not telling any of them what I’m doing, where I’m doing it but know this — the fight is happening on April 18, some where on planet Earth and when you need to know, I’ll let you know.”