Daniel Cormier details precautions UFC had for UFC 249: ‘I was almost safer at the event than I am anywhere else’
Daniel Cormier says the UFC had a ton of precautions in place to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 if UFC 249 went ahead.
For the longest time, UFC president Dana White was adamant UFC 249 would happen on April 18. He revealed a brand new card that saw the UFC’s interim lightweight title on the line. Several other new interesting matchups were also revealed. Yet, the higher-ups at ESPN and Disney told White to shut it down due to the pandemic.
Now, Cormier revealed on ESPN‘s DC & Helwani show the precautions the promotion had in place for the event.
“So they called me, told me the procedures in terms of what was going to happen, you know I’m a guy when go places, generally I’m not by myself,” Daniel Cormier explained (via MMA Fighting). “Somebody goes or I’ve got friends and I take them to the fights or if I’ve got a friend in the town that we’re fighting I invite them to the fight. So being in California, one of the biggest worries for me was, no one can go with you. Like nobody.
“They said ‘DC, you’ve got to come alone. You’re going to check into the hotel, they’re going to screen you and make sure you’re okay, do everything. Then you’re going to go into the arena, call the fights, and then you’re going to leave. In terms of what they were going to do to try and protect us, it was crazy. [Joe] Rogan, myself, and [Jon] Anik. The Octagon has eight sides, we would each be on a different side of the Octagon just to make sure we were social distancing away from each other.
“By the time I was done with this conversation, I felt like I was almost safer at the event than I am anywhere else. It’s only people that are okay we’re all away from each other. Then you go and get paid, and you’re there for a day. I could have drove up Saturday morning, called the fights, drove home Saturday night. It was perfect for me.”
Daniel Cormier, who lives in California was going to drive to the Tachi Palace Resort and Casino. He also believes the right steps were in place so nobody contracted the virus.
“[All I would do is] drive in, check into the hotel, get my stuff checked and then go call the fights and come back,” Cormier said. “We were gonna have nothing. We weren’t gonna have a make-up person, we all had our own locker rooms. It was just gonna be, ‘Okay, time to go to the Octagon, call those fights, time to go back. It felt like they had taken the right steps to ensure everybody was going to be okay.”
In the end, the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion says he has no problem with White trying to put fights on.
