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While plans are being made for boxing and other MMA organisations like Bellator to make a comeback with small, mid-July shows in the UK and the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will become the first sport in America to return tomorrow at a sealed-off hotel in Jacksonville, Florida.
The twelve pairs of fighters and staff have undergone stringent daily medical tests for Covid-19 with the UFC's ebullient president Dana White having insisted that the event "will be as safe as it can be" for all concerned.
But, understandably, the debate will rage. How safe is it right now for an event which involves close physical contact to go ahead? Should an event be going on at all? Will it simply go ahead without repercussions and kick-start the fight industry economy again?
Pioneering zeal is always to be applauded, but fight sports are inherently dangerous as a matter of course, and therefore there is some unease at the thought of the unknown here. Then again, the UFC is akin to combating those kinds of norms. As a fight league, you might say, going against the grain is in its DNA.
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UFC was sold for $4 billion three years ago after being formed under its banner in 1993 and becoming a sports phenomenon over the past three decades. It has forever been innovative in creating its niche brand of drama, thrills, skills and a lifestyle which is enjoyed by millions around the world. If it is doable, the UFC has always done it.
Here they are again breaking the mould during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Fans have been clamouring for an event, and as economies have ground to a halt. They now have their wish. Unlike boxing's plan to start with small cards, the UFC, which operates under a different model altogether, have made the event a showcase with many of its biggest names, whose teams all tested with coronavirus kits at home before travelling to Florida.
Saturday night's event is numbered UFC 249 and will be aired pay-per-view on BT Sport in the UK and on ESPN in the United States. The UFC will operate three shows in eight days at the same venue, insistent that it is possible to maintain active in the wake of the pandemic lockdown seven weeks ago.
Its UFC medical team is likely to take 1200 tests during the course of the three events, those tests extended to team members and all workers on the event in a sealed off hotel with 24-hour credential passes and heightened security to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.
The debate as to whether sportsmen should be in contact while social distancing is advised in country after country is up for scrutiny here. But the UFC are used to being the outlaw sport rising like a tall poppy. Some fighters, like UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, a part-time firefighter, has insisted he will not return until the coronavirus spread is back under control, bringing some criticism from White.
Called out by heavyweight rival Daniel Cormier this week, Miocic, from Cleveland, Ohio, responded. "I want to fight DC [Cormier]. It’s going to happen - period. I'm going to give my fans what they want to see. My management has been working on dates with UFC. Right now I’m doing what the Governor DeWine is advising and am working as a first-responder. I can’t control a global pandemic."
Miocic believes that August will be the time to return. White responded: "I saw a quote from Stipe recently where Stipe said, ‘There’s bigger things going on in the world right now, fighting will be there forever.’ – it’s not true.”
“Fighting will not be here forever. When you’re a professional athlete, your window of opportunity is very small. So, hopefully we can get Stipe back in there soon with Cormier and get the heavyweight division rolling.”
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White himself was strident from the very start that there would be a way to bring the UFC events back as soon as possible. Working tirelessly behind the scenes, the opportunity to see if this is the right move is finally here. Saturday night is a big test. An acid test.
The fight week itself will bear the results of just how clean the environment has been in which the fighters and staff have prepared. Effectively, how safe it is, and whether the system in place works. The event will play out with no crowd, which will undoubtedly have some effect on the fighters.
UFC 249 was initially meant to be headlined by the long-awaited lightweight title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, but Nurmagomedov is stuck in Russia locked down by an international travel ban, and has been replaced by the all-action brawler Justin Gaethje.
Henry Cejudo, a former USA Olympic Games gold-medallist as a wrestler, defends the UFC bantamweight crown against former champion Dominic Cruz, who returns after a four-year layoff. Cruz said this week that the atmosphere will be a little like having a fight in the gym, while in camp, but for 24 fighters, if they all make weight - and of course, complete all the medical tests - they get to do what is normal for them in 'the new normal'.
UFC is used to being an outlaw sport but debate will rage around its lockdown return