The world is still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus and the first shutdown and now there is a chance a second shutdown could be coming in our future.
UFC President Dana White says the promotion is already making plans in case of a second coronavirus shutdown.
“I told you guys going into this thing I’m always thinking about what’s next,” White said during the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Volkov media scrum (via Dave Doyle & Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie). “And one of the frustrating parts about this whole thing is, I keep telling this story, I was telling it again this morning: Four months ago, I could have told you everything about this business, where’s it’s going, where it’s going to happen. I don’t know now. So all I do is sit around and strategize and try to plan. And I’m planning for a second shutdown, that it will happen again.”
Several states such as Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma have seen spikes in coronavirus cases since opening up, but no decision on a countrywide shutdown at this time.
White says his number one goal is to not have to lay off any UFC employees in case of a second shutdown.
“I’m always thinking about the worst, what’s the worst thing that can – when you hear (fighters) talking about when they train, they put themselves in the worst positions they can possibly be in, that’s how I look at this business, too. What’s the worst position we can possibly be in? And my number one goal is always I don’t want to lay off any of my employees, and I don’t want fighters sitting inactive and not being able to compete. When you’re a professional athlete, you have a very small window of opportunity, a very limited amount of time. You know, we get into all the money sh-t and stuff that’s going on right now. Everybody acts like this is a career. This isn’t a career. This is not a career. This is an opportunity. Anything can happen at any given moment. Your knee could pull out. Your back. Your this, your that. COVID-19, who the hell knows what is coming down the pipeline?," says White.
WorldOMeters reports that 8,746,077 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus worldwide, while 461,768 have passed due to the virus.
