UFC Fight Night 170 will proceed as of now this Saturday at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasília, Brazil. However, Combate’s José Maurício Oliveira, Raphael Marinho, and Zeca Azevedo report that the event will be held without an audience in response to the threat of the coronavirus. The arena can hold up to 16 thousand people. The card features a lightweight main event between Kevin Lee and Brazilian native Charles Oliveira.
The coronavirus has been classified by the World Health Organization as a pandemic. Popular yearly events like Coachella, E3, and SXSW have either cancelled or postponed in reaction to the coronavirus. UFC President Dana White shut down the notion of canceling UFC events last week, but that can change if problems worsen or if he forced to. For this upcoming fight night, it will go as planned without fans in attendance to watch.
The main event of UFC Fight Night 170 is a crucial matchup in the lightweight division. Lee is coming off a big knockout win over Gregor Gillespie at UFC 244 on November 2, 2019. He is looking to get back in the hunt for the lightweight championship and prove that at 27 years old he is the future of the division. Oliveira is on an impressive six-fight win streak and all wins were by him finishing his opponents. With Lee ranked eighth in the lightweight division, a win over Lee could put Oliveira in the top ten in the division.