Unlike most sports, which are just riding this whole Covid-19 thing out, the UFC is out there trying to get back underway as quickly as possible. By taking what used to be a fairly conventional combat sport and turning it into the plot of a Tekken game.
UFC boss Dana White has “secured” the use of a private island, where he’s hoping all international fighters legally able to be transported there can arrive later this month and get fighting.
“We’re going to get the fighters somewhere, and we’re going to bring them to this location. They won’t know where they’re headed to.”@danawhite explains the logistics of how fighters will be transported to the site of #UFC249, as well as the soon-to-be-secured private island. pic.twitter.com/KMPGZ0qc9Q
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 7, 2020
White has the island—whose location is still unknown—for two months, and plans to be staging fights there on a weekly basis.
In terms of how safe or legal this is, the UFC says every person involved will be screened before being allowed into the facilities, where they’ll presumably be living for the duration of…whatever you want to call this.
Before you label White as some kind of madman, know that at least one other major sports league—Australia’s entire National Rugby League competition—has been publicly talking about a similar idea for a while now.
This is kinda dumb and reckless and may violate all kinds of laws countries have imposed regarding international travel during this pandemic. It would also constitute genuine international sport, something millions of people are crying out for at the moment, and is also the closest we may ever get to seeing a 90s fighting game storyline (or Enter the Dragon) come to life.
Leave a Reply