XFC 52 is certainly not the only event to have been cancelled or delayed by the latest run of Covid-19 restrictions.
But after two postponements, there must have been a "here we go again" feeling when the Christchurch Covid-19 cases were announced.
Those fears were quickly put to bed.
The MMA event will go ahead as planned at the Edgar Centre tomorrow night.
It will be held under Alert Level 2 protocols, meaning 100 ticketed fans — tickets have already sold out — can watch, alongside the 50 corporate tables of 10 people each.
Dunedin’s Brogan Anderson will fight in the main event, scheduled to begin about 10.30pm.
He will fight Pane Haraki for an XFC light-heavyweight title, the weight class up from his usual middleweight.
The pair had previously fought four years ago, a bout which Anderson won.
Event organiser and Dunedin fight coach Matt Toa said it could be one of the final opportunities to see Anderson locally before he takes the next step.
Anderson is Australasia’s top middleweight fighter, and Toa believed there was substance to talk he could be on the radar of the sport’s top promoter — the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Anderson has been in Dunedin and avoided the Auckland lockdown, although now trains out of the City Kickboxing gym which produced talent such as Israel Adesanya.
Those connections provided a foot in the door to the UFC.
Toa said if a UFC event had been able to be held in New Zealand in the past year, there was a good chance Anderson would have been on the card.
The other co-main event would be Peter Clinch against Trulin Toatoa, while two promising local youngsters would be on show in Mitch Kelly and Kasib Murdoch.
The XFC would be held in conjunction with the annual Bucketlist event, which consists of people with little or no experience being put through a 10-week boot camp prior to the fight night.
