For Dana White Safety Comes First Says He Don’t Need A Crowd At Events
Due to the global health crisis, people are stuck at home, worldwide sports activities are suspended and many businesses are still non-running. UFC is one of kind fight organization who has been trying hard to put out fight-card for fans but forced to put those events to halt. UFC head honcho Dana White is doing everything in his power to bring the business back and scheduled three-fight events in one week for next month, dates include May 13, May 16, and May 23. Also, UFC 249 rescheduled to take place in Jacksonville, Florida on May 9th which headlines Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje.
While speaking to Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, White pressed that we can’t sit around until next December as someone got to take the first step to move forward.
“At some point, we have to figure out, ‘How do we get things back to normal,’ but do it in a really safe way,” White said. “The only way to find out is to get out there and start doing it. We’re going to spend a lot of money. It’s not going to be cheap. It’s going to be expensive. You’re worried about the health and safety of everybody: the fighters, the commission, the referees, my staff that’s going to be there. It’s not cheap. It’s expensive. It’s hard, but somebody’s got to take the first step and get out there. We can’t just stay in houses until next December.”
White was a bit hopeful to continue with UFC 249 card which was supposed to went down April 18, even went on to construct the Fight island somewhere in the middle of the ocean but Disney executives had Dana White to cancel the event once again. Despite all that White is adamant that he cares about fighters’ safety and things are looking good heading into the next event.
“I care very much about the fighters,” White said. “I care very much about my staff; obviously, my family. We’re going to do everything way up here. we always do. Health and safety is an issue for us for the last 20 years. . . It’s not new for us. This is something we deal with not only on a weekly basis but we take great pride in that we have such a great track record.”
White made it clear the global pandemic is not going anywhere soon so it doesn’t mean we can sit homes and do nothing. But says health and safety is his top priority hence no fights fans at live events for a long time.
“Obviously, the world is going to be different and I’ve been thinking far ahead into the future,” White said. “I don’t expect to have a gate for a very long time. I’ve already thrown that out the window. You have to look at all the different things. People think that I don’t take this seriously because I want to come back so fast and all this other stuff.
“It’s not that I don’t take it seriously. I take it very seriously. I don’t plan on having a gate for a very long time. . . I’m already thinking way ahead of these types of things. All I need to worry about is making sure everybody is safe and that I can put on these events. I don’t need a crowd.”
With all other organizations are on hold due to fear of the spread of COVID-19 but the point is how White will control the spread hence he explains his reasoning as below:
“I think the medical experts have controlled it, as best as you can control it,” White said. “We literally shut down the world. It’s crazy that that’s even an option. We shut down the world and we controlled it as best we can. I just don’t know how long we can keep the world shut down. There’s a lot of things that will start to snowball as you continue to keep people locked up inside their houses with nothing to do and no entertainment and a lot of people who aren’t making money are going to running out of money to buy food and things like this. People being out and being productive and people making money is a big deal too. We have to start coming up with ways to work around this and figure out how to get people back to as close to normal as possible.”
When do you think we can see fans at events?
