Former UFC fighter turned referee Frank Trigg has voiced serious concerns about the UFC’s ability to safely host events during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s no way to make something like this safe until we understand what we’re dealing with,” Trigg told MMA Junkie Radio. “How can we counter it? Is there going to be a vaccine for this thing? There’s no way to make these things safe until we figure this out. The same thing with polio, same thing with leprosy. Until we figure out what it actually is, how it actually progresses, what is actually happening with it, there is no way to make a sporting event safe.”
Trigg went on to elaborate on just one of many potential scenarios that could lead to UFC fighters and employees health and safety being compromised if they do go ahead with their events.
“Say one camera guy, he’s three feet away,” Trigg said. “He’s trying to practice social distancing, but he’s three feet away, but what happens? He goes to a grocery store. A person has COVID. The person who has COVID doesn’t think he has COVID. The camera guy doesn’t think he has COVID because he has a mask on, he’s walking through. They touch with no gloves a thing of ketchup, they put it back, they don’t want to take it, they want something else. That camera guy then picks up that COVID infected thing of ketchup, puts in his bag, goes out and buys it and goes home. Now he’s got COVID in his house.
“But fight’s on Friday, this is Tuesday, he’s not showing any signs. Nothing’s happening. He’s a camera guy not in touch with everybody, but he’s at cageside. He has COVID, but he doesn’t realize it. They don’t know they have it. … All of a sudden he started coughing a little bit, the fighters are below him because he has to get a shot, now they’ve been exposed, that whole group.”
