On March 7, 2020, the UFC presented the UFC 248 pay-per-view card from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The promotion reported an attendance of 15,077 for that event, which featured two title fights at the top of the card. In the co-main event, strawweight champion Weili Zhang defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk by split decision. The headlining bout saw Israel Adesanya defend his middleweight title against Yoel Romero. Adesanya won that bout via unanimous decision. The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented fight fans from attending a live UFC event since that event took place.
One week after UFC 248, the promotion held UFC on ESPN+ 28 in Brazil. Fans were not admitted to the event due to COVID-19 restrictions. The UFC paused activity between March 21 and May 2, “postponing” five events during that time.
When the promotion returned to action, it was for three fight cards in Jacksonville, Florida. Those cards took place on May 9, May 13 and May 16. During those events, the UFC looked to tighten its safety protocols so it could continue to present fight cards through the rest of 2020.
The promotion worked with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Abu Dhabi to put COVID-19 safety measures in place for the rest of 2020. Every fight card that followed the Jacksonville events either took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi.