The UFC is determined to fight on amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While leagues and organizers across sports canceled or delayed competition this week, the UFC proceeded with its plans to hold a fan-free event last night in Brasilia.
Next weekend, the promotion still plans to stage a full fight card with fans inside London’s O2 Arena.
Photo: AP
The UFC has not canceled any competitions, even those previously scheduled for areas where large gatherings are now banned. Instead, the promotion has moved events scheduled for March 28 in Columbus, Ohio, and April 11 in Portland, Oregon, to the new UFC Apex complex in Las Vegas, where it has a small arena and television production capabilities.
UFC president Dana White attributes his decision to go against the sports world’s collective mindset partly to a conversation on Thursday with US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence.
White and Trump are longtime friends and business associates.
“I talked to the president and the vice president of the United States about this,” White said on ESPN, his promotion’s broadcast partner. “They’re taking this very serious. They’re saying: ‘Be cautious, be careful, but live your life and stop panicking.’ Everybody is panicking, and instead of panicking, we’re actually getting out there and working with doctors and health officials and the government to figure out how we can keep the sport safe and how we can continue to put on events.”
The UFC will not have fans in the stands, but the competition will go on — and more importantly to the fighters, they will get paid in a sport with no financial compensation unless a fight actually takes place.
The UFC would monitor its fighters for symptoms of the virus before allowing them to compete, White said.
“We’re always looking out for the health and safety of our fans, our athletes, whatever it might be,” he said. “This thing going on, we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to make sure that two healthy athletes are competing, and these guys are good to go.”
For most people, the novel coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older people and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the virus.
According to the WHO, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness might take three to six weeks to recover.
Combat sports are among the most elemental competitive events, with just two fighters and a referee in a cage or ring surrounded by three judges and relatively few vital support personnel. That’s a big reason that the UFC believes it can continue while the rest of the sporting world grinds to a halt.
They are also unlikely to get significant resistance from the fighters, who largely need the paychecks.
“I would bet more than half of fighters would expose themselves to coronavirus before not getting to fight,” UFC welterweight Anthony Rocco Martin said.
“We aren’t union and don’t get paid to not fight. Most spend all their money getting to their next fight,” he said.
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