With the Covid-19 virus putting pretty much the entire world on lockdown, many athletes and sports fans alike are left with not much to do with themselves other than the occasional cringe worthy Instagram challenge. Not the UFC though! UFC president Dana White has announced thats he is close to securing a private island to continue hosting fights during the coronavirus crisis.
That’s right, a private freaking island. Nothing’s going to stop the Ultimate Fighting Championship, not even a contagious deadly virus that’s infected over 1,411,099 people worldwide. As of right now, he’s not disclosed which island exactly, but he did confirm that UFC 249 will go ahead on 18 April at an undisclosed location.
Having been forced to postpone three events recently, White has clearly had enough. Speaking to TMZ, he said
“We’re getting the infrastructure put in now so I’m going to start doing the international fights too,”
“I won’t be able to get international fighters, all of them, into the US, so I have a private island. I’m going to start flying them all into the private island and doing international fights from there. So as of April 18, the UFC is back up and running.”
He also added that he is “a day or two” away from finding a location to start hosting fights.
Of course, as you would expect, the island will be closed to fans, with the event being streamed exclusively on ESPN and only a select few members of the media permitted entry. White also reiterated that fighters would be tested regularly for the coronavirus.
“We’re going to make sure that athletes, referees, my production people, that everybody there is going to be healthy before, during and after the fights,” he said.
Whether you’re a fan of the UFC or not, the news should come as a delight to sports fans around the world who are probably never going to take any sort of sporting activity for granted now that there’s absolutely nothing to watch.
