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Hall Of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum, who has taken a verbal beating in the past from Dana White, finally hit back at the UFC president, and he hit him with a solid left hook that would make his top-ranked fighters proud.
Since the coronavirus exploded globally, one by one the sports world has fallen apart like dominoes. All but one really. The UFC did their Brasilia card without a crowd, and White has been steadfast that UFC 249 will take place somewhere on planet Earth on April 18th. Yes, a few organizations have held events as well; like SUG, the WWE, CW, etc, but it's the UFC that is on the front lines here.
Dana continues to say his fighters are healthy, will be checked, and if you question his methods or anything else, you are 'weak' and are not needed. He's even said he's not scared of the virus and welcomed it saying "come get me". The one thing he forgets while he has his own family isolated in his adopted hometown of Vegas by the way, is the fact that people are dying. And it's not just the ones who are older and have a weakened immune system either. This virus doesn't discriminate. Now whether you feel it's an Earth cleansing from God is a whole other story.
Even if fighters, referees, cutmen, teammates all come back immediately clean; they can still very well have the virus in their systems. They will then bring it back home, and that's how we get a pandemic to spread. This is not rocket science. Although one has to wonder how rocket scientists can help.
The UFC President has had very few people agree with his steadfastness on the issue. One of which is former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Dominick recently said he's due to call the April 18th card and still has no idea where he is going. But fully believes the card should happen as fans and the world need a distraction. "Because that's what fighters and MMA does, we push through" , Cruz said. While that may be true; a temporary distraction is very short sighted. And can easily exacerbate the situation.
Anyway, Arum went on to say, "he ought to be ashamed of himself, but the truth of the matter is Dana White is someone with flawed intelligence". He continued on with; "let's all be big people and big boys about it and stop the grandstanding. This will end when it ends, and it will end quicker if we all stick together and do what we are supposed to do and not shout from the rafters 'I'm not a p***y and I'm going to put this fight on, I don't care' ".
Arum has complete support from other major boxing promoters like Eddie Hearn and Oscar de la Hoya, in postponing all upcoming events. No matter how big the event or how important the fight may be, one needs to take the logical call when lives are at stake. When asked what his plans are for when things clear up, he replied, " I don't know, I have no idea whether it will be 2 months, 3 months, or even the rest of the year; when this thing looks like it's clearing up, then we will start making plans".
Bob can be criticized for many things he's done in his past, none of which will be rehashed right now. But in the present, on this topic; he and the rest of the sports world have hit the nail squarely on the head.
