The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced the cancellation of the upcoming UFC event scheduled for the Irish capital on August 15.

The promotion announced that the fight card would now not be taking place as planned via press release issued on Wednesday, saying that restrictions on public gatherings in Ireland meant that holding the event as planned in the 3 Arena on the northside of Dublin City was impossible.

“Due to current government restrictions on public gatherings in the Republic of Ireland, UFC Fight Night originally scheduled for 15 August will not take place as planned at the 3Arena in Dublin,” the statement reads. “UFC looks forward to returning with an event in the near future.”

Due to current government restrictions on public gatherings in the Republic of Ireland, #UFCDublin originally scheduled for August 15th will not take place as planned at the @3ArenaDublin.

UFC looks forward to returning with an event in the near future pic.twitter.com/D5E7CKCyfS

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) June 24, 2020

The event would have been the UFC’s first event held in Dublin since October 2015 when the fight card was topped by Paddy Holohan vs. Louis Smolka, after a main event between Dustin Poirier and Joe Duffy and co-main between Stipe Miocic and Ben Rothwell both fell off the card for various reasons.

The promotion’s announcement that the card was to be shelved comes after the UFC has held events in Jacksonville, Florida and their own APEX Facility in Las Vegas in a bid to find a workaround to the various restrictions designed to mitigate the spread of the virus.

A fight between Darren Till and Robert Whittaker had been tipped to be the headliner of the UFC’s Dublin return, but the it was revealed that this fight will now take place on ‘Fight Island’ on July 25.

There is no indication yet as to when the UFC will be able to reschedule their much-anticipated return to Dublin.