Saturday's most important result — the ultimate verdict on the Ultimate Fighting Championship — will play out over the next couple of weeks, when it is determined whether this was pulled off without a significant spread of the coronavirus.
“Strange,” said UFC broadcaster Jon Anik.It didn’t have to. After eight-plus weeks without a live sporting event in the United States that wasn’t a horse race, UFC 249 stepped into the coronavirus void, offering a welcome diversion, a welcome bit of normalcy, a welcome Saturday night of fighting.
Preliminary fighter Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and two team members came up positive for COVID-19 on Friday. They had been asymptomatic. He was pulled from the card. All three men were self-quarantining. Someone had to be first and the UFC was willing to do it. Perhaps even more significantly, it didn’t back away because of the presence of a positive test in its ranks. Whether this is wise or foolish for public health can be debated by others. For the sake of sports returning, it was critical.
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