Dana White bringing sports back with UFC 249 in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Florida

UFC veteran featherweight Jeremy Stephens was open to going anywhere that would allow him to fight for a paycheck amid a global pandemic that has brought the sports world to a screeching halt.

“I was willing to go to Mars,” he said.

He’ll have to settle for VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, where the local and state government were eager to open for business and allow the UFC to be the first major sports organization to resume competition.

Stephens will fight Calvin Kattar on the UFC 249 pay-per-view card on Saturday night in an arena devoid of fans and high on safety protocols. The fighters and staffers who will be allowed in the venue have been tested and isolated for most of the week.

“I’m just here to show up and do my job,” he said. “I want to give the American people entertainment. Let them know you have to take risks. You have to step outside the box. The stay-at-home man is a dead man. That’s why I’m loving that the UFC is going out there and proving the show goes on. You have to rise to the occasion.”

The event experienced some chaos Friday night when it was announced middleweight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza tested positive for coronavirus and would be removed from the card.

UFC president Dana White said he was comfortable with how the situation was handled after Souza revealed a recent potential exposure to an infected family member upon his arrival Wednesday in Jacksonville.

White said the asymptomatic fighter was isolated as officials awaited test results. He weighed in on Friday morning in a mask and gloves, remaining distanced from opponent Uriah Hall during faceoffs.

Souza did fist-bump White and appeared in a social media video in close proximity to heavyweight Fabricio Werdum.

The UFC never really wanted to shut down.

White, the polarizing and outspoken president of the organization and a friend of President Donald Trump, was one of the last people to host a live sporting event on March 14 when a UFC card in Brazil was held without fans.

White and EVP &Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell huddled in White’s Las Vegas office with other executives just about every day in late March and early April formulating plans to continue running events against all odds—and public opinion.

“We’d spend all day figuring it all out, then go to bed and wake up the next morning to everything in the world changing,” White said. “Literally every day for three weeks. We would get on the phone from our houses and go, ‘This is (expletive) insane.’ It just happened again. Now what?”

White always insisted the UFC would be the first to return but said Friday it was never a set goal.

“It’s not even like I felt like we had to be the first one back, I just knew we would be,” White said Friday on the eve of the organization’s first card in nearly two months. “This is just what we do and we’ve been doing it for a long time. Health and safety is something we worry about every weekend. We knew we’d be able to figure this out.”

It nearly happened on April 18 when the UFC was set to put on an event on tribal lands in California before powerful state leaders asked ESPN to stop the card. So White tasked Campbell with finding a state government that would be more agreeable. The UFC formulated and sent a 30-page health and safety proposal to several states and found a more than willing partner in Florida.

While the April 18 show looked like an end run around regulation, this one is being fully embraced by the state.

“I’m proud to be a part of it,to be perfectly honest with you,” said Marco Lopez, vice chairman of the Florida State Boxing Commission. “It’s time to start moving forward, but with baby steps and being incredibly careful. It’s time to start seeing what can safely be done.”

Campbell said Friday there are at least 10 states willing to allow UFC events at this time under the proposed protocols. White noted several sports leagues have reached out to inquire about the details and how well the plan is working.

“This was just one more thing we had to figure out,” White said. “How do you keep these guys as safe as you possibly can.ou can never eliminate 100 percent of the risk. It’s impossible to do in life, period. But we eliminated a lot of it with the steps we’ve taken this week. If they do their part and we do ours, it should go very smooth.”

The UFC’s decision to resume hasn’t been universally admired. White has had plenty of critics and has repeatedly struck back, particularly at the media.

He once again lashed out Friday at those who have accused him of putting his personal profits and those of his parent company above the health and safety of the fighters.

“We have over 350 employees and their families, plus the fighters and their families. What is wrong with continuing to do what you do as long as you can do it safely?” he said.

White was never going to take no for an answer. And Stephens doesn’t even have to go to Mars.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.