What’s UFC president Dana White up to these days? “Dealing with the bullsh*t,” he says.
Those were his words Thursday during an Instagram Live interview with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. What “bullsh*t”?
White, of course, was referencing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impact around the world. As of Thursday night, the global death toll passed 9,700, with more than 235,000 confirmed cases. In the U.S., the death toll was at 157 (up from 40 last week) across 22 states as confirmed cases increased to more than 11,200.
Perhaps the most sobering news Thursday came from California Gov. Gavin Newsome, who projected “that roughly 56 percent of our population – 25.5 million people – will be infected with the virus over an eight week period.”
Professional sports around the world – including the NBA and NHL, among others – have either canceled their seasons or prepared to be off for months in a collective effort to help stop the spread of COVID-19. White, however, remains convinced the UFC, which suspended its next three events through April 11, will be able to resume operations in time for UFC 249 and the highly anticipated Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson fight scheduled for April 18 but without a location.
“Here’s the reality: We will be up and running before any other sport will,” White said. “Our sport’s different. We have our own arena next door (the UFC Apex). So we will fulfill every fight for every fighter this year, and we’ll get this thing done.”
Last week, while other pro sports leagues halted operations and Bellator postponed its Bellator 241 event in Connecticut, the UFC went through with its show in an empty arena in Brazil. White has come under fire for dismissing the threat of coronavirus ever since he said nearly two weeks ago that he doesn’t “give a sh*t” about it.
Not that he cares about what others think.
“Think about this: Go online and look at some of these people – and this isn’t a knock, this is just a fact: The weakest, wimpiest people on earth cover the biggest, baddest sport on earth,” White said. “What do you expect them to say? What do you think they’re gonna say?
“I have over 350 employees who work for me. Multi-billion-dollar companies are laying off all their employees right now. We haven’t laid off one person at the UFC. And every fighter that fights for me will fight three times this year. Our schedule will go on. Everybody’s gonna get paid, and we will figure this out, and we will be the first sport back on. And, uh, f*ck that sh*t. Everything will go on.”
White did not say whether the UFC will – or as the ability to – test specifically for cornavirus when events restart. Regardless, he’s confident in the promotion’s medical practices.
“Listen, the media can talk as much sh*t as they want,” White said. “They don’t feed families. They don’t take care of f*cking people. They don’t have people that count on them. They don’t have people to support. We’re doing the right thing as far medical testing goes and everything. That’s all we f*cking do. That’s nothing new. We were doing that sh*t way before the coronavirus. We were taking care of people and making sure that everybody’s healthy, and every fighter that’s with me on the road is getting much better medical attention than they are at home – if they’re with me. You know what I mean?
“I told our whole roster: If you or your loved ones have any type of situations or anything wrong, call me. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you get taken care of.”
