California is a step closer to hosting post-lock down combat sports shows.
The California State Athletic Commission on Friday passed emergency regulations that would allow cards to be staged this summer, according to ESPN. The guidelines were forwarded to the California Office of Administrative Law for its review, after which combat sports could resume.
Andy Foster, the CSAC executive director, laid out the regulations for ESPN.
“The fighters will be tested between two and three weeks before their event for the COVID-19 virus,” he said. “If they’re clear, we’ll accept them on the bout card and we’ll approve the fights if they meet the other criteria.
“Then two days before they travel, they’ll fill out a questionnaire. And when they get to the hotel, they’ll be isolated and tested again with their fight camps. Everybody involved in the promotion will be tested on that day.
“Anybody that the promoter deems ‘essential’ to their promotion — and we approve them to be there, and that could be media — anybody that is in that building [who is] part of the promotion is going to need to be tested.”
Foster said California officials will use information gleaned from UFC 249, which took place on May 9. That included the fate of Jacare Souza, who tested positive for COVID-19 the day before the event.
“We learned from that event, and I want to be clear, that’s not to put down the UFC one bit, they had a great plan and everything,” he said. “We learned by watching that, just how contagious this virus could be. So we want to mitigate that risk.”
Golden Boy President Eric Gomez has said that his company hopes to stage a card as soon as July 4.