Dana White Sets Lineups for UFC Fight Nights for May

The UFC will hold three events in over eight days from May 9-16 in Jacksonville, Florida, beginning with UFC 249 on May 9.

UFC president Dana White has announced official fight cards for two UFC Fight Night events in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 13 and May 16, according to ESPN's Brett Okamoto. The fights will follow UFC 249, which is set for May 9 in Jacksonville.

The May 13 event will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between two former title contenders: Glover Teixeira and Anthony Smith. Teixeira previously fought for the light heavyweight title at UFC 172, losing to Jon Jones. Smith lost his title fight at UFC 235, also to Jones. Teixeira and Smith were originally slated to fight on April 25 in Nebraska, a plan that was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For the May 16 event, the headliner will be a heavyweight fight featuring Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris. Overeem lost in a heavyweight title fight to Stipe Miocic at UFC 203. Overeem and Harris had been scheduled to fight on April 11 in Portland.

UFC 249 is headlined by an interim lightweight title fight featuring Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson.

All three of UFC's May events will happen without fans in attendance.

Like the rest of the world's sports organization, the UFC has had to postpone its events in the wake of COVID-19, but it has pledged that it will still hold all of its originally planned 42 events for 2020. Other MMA organizations have yet to establish plans for future events—Bellator MMA's schedule has been postponed through June, while the Professional Fighters League has suspended its 2020 season.