Coronavirus causes California to cancel combat sports events through May

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused the largest state combat sports sanctioning body in North America to pull the plug on events at least through the end of May.

California’s Department of Consumer Affairs, the division of the state government that includes the California State Athletic Commission, extended a ban on combat sports events through the end of May. MMA Junkie confirmed the decision with CSAC officials following an initial report from ESPN’s Marc Raimondi.

“The Commission didn’t take this decision lightly and understands the potential economic loss to promoters and the industry of combative sports,” CSAC stated. “We had to weigh the best interest of our fighters and the community around us.”

Several major MMA events were scheduled during the time frame, including UFC San Diego on May 16. Bellator already had postponed events on May 9 in San Jose and May 29 in Temecula. Also off the board are MMA events by smaller promotions such as King of the Cage and boxing cards planned by major promoters Golden Boy and Top Rank.

On March 12, California became the first major state commission to suspend combats sports events when the seriousness of the pandemic became clear, at the time stopping events through the end of March. Nevada followed suit two days later.