In the midst of rising COVID positives leading to short-notice fight cancellations, the UFC is taking action to clamp down on fighter traveling during fight week.
The UFC has begun new travel restrictions on fight week to tighten up the promotion’s testing protocols. These new restrictions apply to both fighters and coaches. Twitter user Alex Scaffadi publicly shared the news, which has since been confirmed. The email the UFC sent out to fighters reads as follows:
“To ensure the integrity of UFC’s [COVID-19] testing and quarantine protocols, no athlete or corner will be permitted to use any vehicle not officially approved or arranged by UFC once the athlete or corner has checked in for Fight Week,” the notice states. “This includes personally owned vehicles, rental vehicles, a friend’s vehicle, or ride share vehicles, such as Uber or Lyft.
“This policy applies to ALL athletes and corners, including those based in Las Vegas, as well as those based outside of Las Vegas.
“In addition, any athlete or corner who leaves the hotel property without coordinating with UFC Event Operations, including post fight, will not be allowed back into the hotel.
“If an athlete or corner needs transportation for any reason during Fight Week, including to go to the market, the UFC Performance Institute, or UFC APEX, they must call [name redacted] with UFC Event Operations.
“Thank you in advance for your cooperation.”
Four of the six main events from November 14-December 19 have lost their main event due to COVID-related issues, not to mention the other fight cancellations that have been made due to positive COVID tests. When asked about why there has been such a recent rise, Dana White could not provide any direct answers at the UFC 256 post-fight presser (h/t The Sports Rush).
“How’s this happening on fight week? People show up with it or I think what happened this time was somebody had contact with somebody else and then was training their fighter and gave it to them. I don’t know exactly what the deal was but I don’t know.”
Time will tell if these new restrictions will help the UFC’s testing protocols continue to improve for the sake of fighters and their families.
What are your thoughts on the new fight-week travel restrictions for UFC fighters?
