Florida Governor and Jacksonville Mayor set to attend press conference for UFC 261 as promotion welcomes crowds back

UFC 261 is set to welcome crows back to the organization in Jacksonville, Florida despite the ongoing pandemic. However, Dana White seems to have the promotion covered as top government representatives will be attending the press conference for UFC 261.

As revealed by Jose Youngs from MMA Fighting, the Governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, and the Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry, will be present alongside Dana White and the six fighters at the press conference.

The six fighters present for the presser will all be contesting in title bouts at UFC 261. Confirming the presence of the legislators, Ariel Helwani wrote on Twitter:

"Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry will be a part of Thursday’s UFC 261 press conference in Jacksonville, the promotion announced. 4 pm et. They’ll join the 6 fighters competing in the title fights and Dana White."

The VyStars Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville has an official capacity of 15,000, which will be filled to the brim this Saturday. Tickets for UFC 261 sold out within minutes of their release despite carrying a warning of possible 'death' and 'permanent damage' from the novel coronavirus.

The tickets, which were priced as high as $ 6,886 in resale sites, came with a liability disclaimer that read:

"(Attendance) may lead to exposure to COVID-19 and contraction of COVID-19 may result in severe and permanent damage to the health of the holder and/or others including, but not limited to, death"

UFC 261 fighters are responsible for their own vaccinations

While the UFC 261 press conference might have representatives from the state of Florida, they are apparently not very keen on sharing their vaccines. When asked about the vaccinations of fighters at UFC 261, Dana White told Yahoo! Sports:

“What we did is all of our employees have been vaccinated — we made sure that all of our employees that are here with a Nevada residence have vaccinated. The problem is state to state. I have employees in California, and the ring card girls, and stuff like that too. They don’t like giving it out to people from other states. So whatever states the fighters live in, they need to check with their local people and see about getting vaccinated."