How the major combat sports are fighting the coronavirus disruption

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 | 2 a.m.

The two sports that currently maintain Las Vegas’ status as the fight capital of the world are handling the coronavirus pandemic in vastly different manners.

Mixed martial arts at the highest level is set to resume on Saturday, April 18, with UFC President Dana White having secured a secret location — reportedly an American Indian casino in California — for the locally based promotion’s planned UFC 249 pay-per-view. Boxing will not be following suit anytime soon, at least not from the perspective of the sport’s most veteran promoter.

“I think all the boxing promoters realize we’re in this together and we’ve got to cancel the events and keep them canceled until we get the all-clear from the governmental authorities,” said Bob Arum, Top Rank Boxing CEO/founder.

Top Rank’s schedule, which included a pair of April title fights locally, remains in limbo. It’s a tough break for Arum, whom planned on celebrating his 54^th year in the boxing business with a particularly packed slate.

But the 88-year-old is taking the adversity in stride while sequestered in his local home, which he only leaves to go on short walks.

“As old as I am, I wasn’t around in 1919 for the Spanish flu so I don’t know how that compared with this, but this is really frightening how the pandemic is going all over the globe and how many people are affected by it and how many deaths we’ve had,” Arum said.

Arum is preaching patience to his stable of fighters. He’s had similar conversations with all the ones who have called him.

“They all want to know when they can go again. I say, ‘I’m not Dr. (Anthony) Fauci. Ask him. He knows better than me,’” Arum said.

Arum understands the desperation from fighters to stay active, even in the midst of a global pandemic. As independent contractors, fighters don’t get paid unless they perform, leaving many in a panic to make ends meet as bouts are canceled.

That’s one reason White has cited as driving his determination to keep going forward with events, which he says will also start occurring at an undisclosed private island for international fighters. He couldn't find a way to salvage planned UFC events the last three weekends, much to the disappointment of fighters wanting to secure a paycheck.

And they aren't the only ones feeling the financial strain. Forrest Griffin, the UFC’s vice president of athlete development and former light heavyweight champion, emphasized it might be an even bigger blow to fighters' teams.

The effects of the shutdown have immediately stretched to encompass everything in the combat-sports economy.

“A lot of my friends now are the guys who train the fighters and run the gyms; they can’t work,” Griffin said. “You can’t train fighters online. There’s no online cardio kickboxing class at this level. These guys need to be in there holding mitts, drilling, doing whatever to make a living to pay their bills, so it’s really rough.”

Griffin would typically be among them, as he’s usually a fixture of the UFC’s Performance Institute where he oversees training sessions for hundreds of fighters. He misses going to work every day but has been able to stay busy at home in a space that used to be his office before he converted it into a craft room for his wife and second-grade daughter.

Surrounded by fabrics and paints, he’s been working on a UFC journal scheduled to be published at the end of the year evaluating the effectiveness of various training methods. But Griffin realizes not many of his colleagues are as fortunate with a job that’s kept going.

He can’t blame them for wanting to get back to work, but is also conflicted about the inherent health danger in staging fight cards at the moment.

“I can’t tell you when there will be fans at fight cards again because are people even going to want to go?” Griffin asked. “I know I’m not feeling the need to go to any events, bars or concerts right now, or anytime soon after this.”

The UFC’s next planned local event is supposed to take place on July 11, UFC 252, the topper to its annual International Fight Week. Boxing was then expected to take over the Strip and fight scene the next week with a third bout between heavyweights Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.

Arum now hopes that fight can take place in the fall instead, but thinks putting any firm timetable in place is a mistake.

“I’m more concerned with the fact that hospitals can’t get the proper equipment, that people can’t get the care they should be getting and how unprepared we were in this country for this pandemic, how slow we were to react to it,” Arum said. “I think people should be paying attention to that and not worry about boxing matches not being held.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.