The sporting calendar took a serious beating last week, with few events surviving the world’s battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and even though Saturday’s UFC event in Brazil went ahead, it was against a backdrop of eerie silence in an empty arena.
In the main event, underdog Charles Oliveira from Sao Paolo scored a shock submission win over Kevin Lee with a guillotine choke that would have taken the roof of the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium, if there had been anybody there to see it.
With the local government having banned large gatherings to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, the usual gladiatorial atmosphere of a fight night was absent as the thousands of seats remained unfilled.
Photo: Reuters
Watched only by the coaches, the officials and the production staff, Sweden’s Bea Malecki and Veronica Macedo of Venezuela were the first to make the walk to the octagon. The usual thundering intro music for each fighter was cut short; with no fans, there was no atmosphere of anticipation to build.
Octagon announcer Joe Martinez did his best to inject some life into the proceedings as he introduced the fighters, but his fairground-style announcements of each fighter were met with indifference from those in the arena, who all had other work to do.
The only sounds were the slap of leather on flesh, feet pounding the octagon floor and the odd grunt punctuating the grappling exchanges. Occasionally the sounds of combat were pierced by the shouts of coaches and corner personnel.
The bouts lacked nothing in intensity, but without the electricity from a live audience, they took on the feel of glorified sparring sessions. As the victors had their hands raised, there were no roars of appreciation to reward them.
The first nine bouts on the 12-fight card all went the distance before Renato Moicano finally got a win inside the allotted time with a submission victory over Damir Hadzovic, and Gilbert Burns then added a thunderous knockout of Demian Maia in the co-main event, his full-throated victory roars echoing through the empty hall.
The lack of atmosphere clearly affected some of the fighters, who are more used to battling in front of sold-out arenas full of enthusiastic supporters.
“It was a bit weird not having any fans in the arena, but I could hear everything my coaches were saying, so that was good,” Bea Malecki told reporters after scoring a decision victory in the first fight of the night.
“Sometimes it’s so loud in there. It’s been a crazy week; we did not know if it [the fight] was going to happen or not, but we stuck to the plan,” she said.
With the government in the UK said to be considering a ban on large gatherings, the UFC’s next event in London this weekend might yet be canceled.
That might be a better fate than forcing their gladiators to fight in another empty colosseum.
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