Advertisement

California cancels all combat sports through May due to coronavirus pandemic

All combat sporting events in California have been canceled through the end of May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the California State Athletic Commission announced on Thursday, via ESPN.

The decision will most significantly impact UFC San Diego on May 16, which was set to feature Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker in the main event.

[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]

"The Commission didn't take this decision lightly and understands the potential economic loss to promoters and the industry of combative sports," the CSAC statement said, via ESPN. "We had to weigh the best interest of our fighters and the community around us."

The UFC has seemingly been the last sports league in the country still trying to move forward as usual despite the coronavirus outbreak — which quickly brought the sports world to a standstill last month. On Wednesday, UFC president Dana White was still feverishly trying to make UFC 249 happen somewhere in the world on April 18. That bout was set to feature Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, however Nurmagomedov has since said he will stay at home in quarantine and not participate in the fight.

White still does not have a location for UFC 249 or a new date or location for the Poirier-Hooker fight.

There were more than 981,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Thursday afternoon, and at least 50,000 deaths attributed to the virus, according to The New York Times. More than 234,000 of those cases were in the United States, more than double the amount in any other country.

California had nearly 10,000 confirmed cases alone, the third most in the country behind New York and New Jersey.

More from Yahoo Sports: