Thread by @lthomasnews

I tracked down the articles cited in UFC President Dana White's anti-media video today related to the UFC's efforts during the coronavirus. Might be worth revisiting them to see what they say and if pushback on them is warranted in light of the very good year UFC had.

1/

It's worth mentioning up front the UFC had two coronavirus experiences.

Once they began working with commissions in May - especially in NV or Abu Dhabi govt - virtually all criticisms went away. At that point, they were working inside updated state medical protocol or beyond.

Before that, however, is when the overwhelming majority of pushback took place.

The first article cited is from March 15, early in the pandemic, following the show in Brazil where there was no Covid testing. Most global sports had stopped at this point.

theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar…

Next is from the space prior to the rescheduled UFC 249, still in April during the period where five UFC shows had been cancelled. It is critical of White following Nurmagomedov's notice he wouldn't fight at UFC 249, which was still looking for a venue: ftw.usatoday.com/2020/04/ufc-da…

Third is a reaction from the day where Disney/ESPN asked UFC to halt its efforts after it planned to stage an event in California on Native American territory. Middle April, still before commissions even had updated Covid protocol: bleacherreport.com/articles/28859…

Fourth is a Washington Post story that is essentially an aggregation of tweets from an epidemiologist expressing concerns over UFC's and Florida's Covid protocol ahead of UFC 249.
washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/05…

Fifth is the NYT article ahead of the planned Tachi Palace event that likely played a role in elected officials asking Disney/ESPN to intervene: nytimes.com/2020/04/07/spo…

Sixth is an article that doesn't appear to be much other than an angry headline. There might be more behind a paywall, but I can't tell. FWIW, it is admittedly harsh on UFC: independent.co.uk/independentpre…

Seventh is from MMA Fighting. It's an editorial before UFC Brasilia, the event early in the pandemic, but one where no Covid testing took place.

mmafighting.com/2020/3/13/2117…

Eighth is just a regurgitation from Jay Mariotti days after UFC 249, who says really nasty things, but it's also Jay Mariotti:

foxsportsradio.iheart.com/content/2020-0…

Ninth is an op-ed in April before UFC 249 that is critical, but judge for yourself to what degree it's over the top:

latimes.com/sports/story/2…

Tenth is from The Athletic and Josh Gross following the UFC being asked to stand down by Disney/ESPN: theathletic.com/1737231/2020/0…

Eleventh is from an article that just aggregates an interview with White where he gets the chance to defend himself on a podcast. April 6: insider.com/dana-white-den…

Lastly, the video cites this article from June, which is much later than all of the other articles and has 'epidemic' in the headline.

The problem?

*It isn't even about the coronavirus or UFC's handling of it!*

It's about stars wanting more money: cbssports.com/mma/news/ufc-p…

UFC's rush to stage shows in March with no Covid testing and plans for events on Native American territory in Cali in April when the CSAC was shutdown merit much of the criticism you see.

Once they worked with updated Covid protocol from NV & F.I., they did extremely well.