UFC fighter Jacare Souza was pulled from the UFC 249 fight card on Friday night after he, as well as two of his cornermen, tested positive for coronavirus.
The event will still go on as planned on Saturday night in Jacksonville, despite the positive tests.
We can have a discussion another time about UFC’s decision to go on with this event, but what I want to talk about in the meantime is something that should be obvious: Souza should get paid by Dana White.
This isn’t my idea, I should say, but one that’s been floating around in UFC circles since the positive test. Here’s Alex Scaffidi on it:
Also, this may be an unpopular opinion but I think both fighters should be paid. Uriah Hall and Jacare Souza both made weight today. The UFC took the gamble of holding events during a pandemic and risking fighters testing positive and having to cancel fights.
— Alex Scaffidi (@alexscaffidi_) May 9, 2020
Scaffidi is right: Souza made weight. He is missing the fight due to contracting a virus that is currently causing a global pandemic.
And UFC is the organization that decided to hold this thing during a global pandemic. They did so despite knowing that many of the carriers of this virus are asymptomatic, and would have no idea if they had it or not.
People saying Souza should have known and told UFC: The thing is, he did! According to MMAJunkie, Souza told UFC officials that a family member of his had tested positive, and he was asymptomatic. It was then that they ordered the test.
I’ve seen Twitter users try to place blame on Souza, desperate for it to be the individual fighter’s fault and not the UFC’s fault for going ahead with this event. People have shared video in which they say Souza wasn’t practicing proper social distancing measures.
We want to criticize the fighter for not properly socially distancing, but we’re OK with the UFC putting on an event in which two people get in a ring together and fight? Come on.
White and the UFC are the ones who are so set on holding this event, despite the virus continuing to spread around the country, no vaccine, and not enough testing. They should do right by Souza, and pay him.
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