[imagesource: Chris Unger / Getty]
Other than eSports, and the oddly addictive marble racing, live sport has generally ground to a halt around the world.
Debate rages around whether or not the English Premier League season will be completed (Liverpool fans are watching that one particularly closely), with golf and tennis and motorsports and almost everybody else taking an enforced breather.
That may not be the case with UFC, though, and president Dana White believes he has come up with a creative, and rather outrageous, plan to keep the fights coming.
UFC 249, slated to take place on April 18 in New York City, obviously cannot go ahead as planned, but Dana says he’s one step ahead.
Here’s his interview with TMZ Sports about what he has in mind:
If you’d prefer that laid out for you, CNN below:
White told TMZ Sports on Monday that he is a “day or two away” from securing a private island which will host the upcoming event, and subsequent fight nights.
“We’re getting the infrastructure put in now so I’m going to start doing the international fights too,” he said.
“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.”
While he refused to disclose the location of the island, White assured that extensive testing facilities would be in place to make certain that only “100% healthy athletes” would be competing.
You don’t need to be a fan of UFC to know that physical distancing isn’t part of the appeal.
White said that the island will be closed to fans, and only a very limited number of journalists and members of the media will be admitted.
He added that those fighting will be gathered in one place and “won’t know where they’re headed”, before being flown to the island by private jet.
As outrageous as this may seem, White isn’t the only person thinking along these lines:
…one of Australia’s most popular professional sports, the National Rugby League (NRL), announced they were considering a proposal to house all players on a luxury island in an attempt to get live sport on TV as soon as possible.
Codenamed Project Apollo, players from all 16 NRL teams would be quarantined at Tangalooma Island Resort on Moreton Island, off the coast of Queensland, to be ferried back and forth for games in empty stadiums to be broadcast worldwide.
Project Apollo is an interesting codename – hopefully, it’s more Apollo 11 than Apollo 1.
UFC 249’s main fight was originally going to feature Khabib Nurmagomedov defend his lightweight title against Tony Ferguson, but Nurmagomedov has been ruled out after returning to Russia.
Justin Gaethje will take his place, with the fighter saying he’s “terrified and I f*cken love it”.
In order to make this a success, and not risk the health of the fighters, Dana White sure has his work cut out.
[source:cnn]
