The UFC is back, as UFC 249 is under way in Jacksonville, despite the fact that Jacare Souza and two of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday night.
There is no crowd and Jacksonville Arena and the cageside setup is a lot different with social distancing rules in place.
The no crowd thing is very weird, which anyone picked up on if you watched the first fight of the night. It’s just strange to hear all the sounds from inside the Octagon without anyone in the crowd reacting.
It was also weird during Joe Rogan’s post-fight interview with Ryan Spann after he beat Sam Alvey. At the end of it Rogan almost said his patented, “Ryan Spann, everybody” but caught himself because there is nobody there:
"Ryan Spann… to no one in the audience…"
Old habits, @joerogan 😅 #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/YMBN5ypuep
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 9, 2020
Michael Bisping wasn’t as fortunate back in March:
Who did it better though? 🤔
…@JoeRogan or @Bisping? #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/0DR5lSZDY3
— UFC (@ufc) May 9, 2020
@joerogan announcing to no crowd for the interview isn’t easy but handled like the pro and veteran he is. But at least he didn’t ask the none existent crowd to make some noise 😂
— michael (@bisping) May 9, 2020
Yup, tonight is going to be a weird night. But we do have some fights back in our lives, which is nice.