UFC gives up on attempt to continue fight schedule

The UFC has postponed its next three scheduled events through April 11, finally giving up on president Dana White’s plan to keep fighting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The UFC will not hold its show scheduled for Saturday, which was initially slated to be held in a full arena in London. The UFC also won’t hold shows scheduled for March 28 and April 11.

“It’s just impossible,” White said. “We can’t do it.”

White insists he will hold UFC 249 on April 18, although he doesn’t have a venue for it. Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson.

“We’re hoping that this all clears up by April,” White said. “This fight is going to happen. No crowd, whatever it takes. Probably not even in the United States, but this fight will happen.”

The UFC finally joined nearly every other major worldwide sports organization in postponing its events only after White on Monday heard about the White House’s recommendation to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.

Kentucky Derby to run Sept. 5

The Kentucky Derby, long known as the first Saturday in May, will become the first Saturday in September this year in light of the coronavirus crisis.

Churchill Downs is expected to make an announcement Tuesday morning that the race is being moved to Sept. 5, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Los

Angeles Times.

The status of the other Triple Crown races remains unclear.

NHL lets players head for home

The NHL is pushing back the possibility of resuming its season for several weeks, if not a month or more.

The league and NHL Players’ Association told players Monday they can go home — even out of North America — and must self-isolate through March 27 while the season is on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But the NHL also cautioned that it will not be able to even provide guidance on the potential reopening of team practices for another 45 days, which could make May the earliest possible restart date.

NASCAR stops races until May 9

NASCAR has suspended its season until May as part of the CDC’s recommendation to postpone gatherings for the next eight weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic

It affects seven total races — Atlanta and Homestead had already been postponed.

The series plans to return to the track at Martinsville, Va., on May 9.

“We intend to hold all 36 races this season, with future rescheduling soon to be determined,” NASCAR said.

UIL to halt all practices

In addition to suspending competition until March 29, the UIL announced Monday it was restricting practice and use of facilities until the same day, too.

When the UIL announced Friday it was suspending competition because of coronavirus concerns, it said practices and workouts were permitted when school was in session.

Monday’s announcement changed that.

Claim reignites Fury doping case

Britain’s anti-doping body is expected to look into allegations in a newspaper report in which a farmer said he was offered money to provide an alibi in support of Tyson Fury for a case involving the world heavyweight champion.

Fury and his cousin Hughie were handed retrospective two-year bans by UK Anti-Doping in 2017 after initially testing positive in 2015 for nandrolone, which they blamed on eating uncastrated wild boar meat.

In the case, farmer Martin Carefoot said he provided the Furys with wild boar. But he has backtracked in an interview with British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, saying he was offered 25,000 pounds (nearly $31,000) to make up the story in order to aid their case.

Boxing promoter Frank Warren, who currently works with Tyson Fury, has described the farmer’s claims as “outrageous” and “a load of rubbish.”

“We’ll leave this with UKAD to look into and don’t expect it to go any further,” Warren said.