UFC and Dana White leading the way in the age of coronavirus for the return of professional sports to the American landscape is like Hell’s Angels kicking off a Fourth of July parade.
The notion that the purported success of last weekend’s UFC 249 event without fans in a Jacksonville, Florida, test tube is some kind of blueprint for other sports to follow is as solid as a White House press briefing celebrating the response to the virus that continues to rapidly grow.
So you can certainly understand why President Trump taped a message before the show even took place congratulating Dana White and UFC for their experiment.
“I want to congratulate Dana White and the UFC,” Trump said in a tape that was played on ESPN during the undercard. “They’re going to have a big match. We love it. We think it’s important. Get the sports leagues back. Let’s play. Do the social distancing and whatever else you have to do. We need sports. We want our sports back.”
OK. How?
What we saw with UFC 249 this weekend raises more questions than answers. Middleweight Jacare Souza, who was scheduled to fight Uriah Hall, tested positive for the virus Friday, as well as his two cornermen, according to reports.
They were taken off the card and moved someplace else to self-isolate and will be monitored remotely by UFC medical personnel — at least that’s what we’ve been told.
