UFC President Dana White (R) speaks with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
The UFC is one of the few sports organisations to continue with their schedule after the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The pandemic, declared by the WHO, has already affected several competitions across the world. The NBA was the first to suspend their season while top football leagues have also done the same in Europe.
The UFC president, Dana White, said that some fights would be shifted while others would see limited to no crowds depending on the situation.
Brett Okamoto was speaking to ESPN and was asked what the fighters were thinking about this. The MMA reporter spoke to a few and claimed they just want to fight:
“One is, they are like everyone else. They are trying to understand this on the fly.
“Two is, all of these guys do want to compete. They still want to get into the Octagon and fight. It’s not just how they make their livelihood, it is, I mean they are doing this because they need their pay checks but this is what they like to do.
“If they are not doing this, they are not doing anything else.”
Okamoto also highlighted that many are confused about the situation as travel bans are in place. However, all the fighters want to continue with the job ahead because this is all they want to do.
“It is a little bit of chaos, it is a little bit of uncertainty, especially for the next two events. There is Brazil and then an event in London.”
Okamoto was also asked if the players were worried about their health. MMA is one of the few sports with a lot of body contact and blood being spilt, but the reporter said the fighters didn’t think about this too much:
“They [fighters] don’t think about it. They really don’t. You start talking about these guys regarding head trauma and other things, that directly impact their health. A lot of times these guys get tunnel vision.
“These guys are gamblers, high risk people, they are high risktakers. This is how they choose to live their life. That’s part of what allows them to get into the Octagon and fight another human being.”
Okamoto added that once someone goes through a training camp, they just wanted to fight and didn’t want to lose that opportunity.
He also claimed that most fighters trust their bodies and the immunity they have.
“All these guys have a lot of confidence in their immunity system, in their health.”
The next UFC fight takes place in a few hours in Brazil and it will be interesting to see how things develop from that.
Hopefully, the pandemic slows down and things start becoming normal soon. Thousands have already been affected in the US while numbers are growing across the world.
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