Becoming the first American sports event to break free from the “naked twist” of the epidemic, UFC and Ba Dana experienced more than a month of twists and turns.
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “Lazy Bear Sports” (ID: lanxiongsports) , author Meng bridge.
Successfully hosting a top-level sporting event during the epidemic is no less difficult for MMA players to escape from the already formed bare twist control.
On May 10th, the UFC249 game was held in the VyStar Verteran Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. In today’s main event, substitute Kitty Habib’s player Justin Gaye spent 5 rounds, technically knocking down UFC top spot Tony Ferguson, taking the lightweight from the 36-year-old night elf Champion belt. Justin Gaye and heavyweight Francis Nganou won the “Best Performance Award” bonus that night.
▲ The two who received the “Best Performance Award” bonus will each receive an additional $ 50,000.
Except for the “crocodile” Sosa who was diagnosed with new crown pneumonia this week and his middleweight match with Hall was cancelled, the remaining 11 games were all carried out according to the original plan. UFC became the first rematch in the United States. Top sports league.
However, in the past month, the UFC’s rematch history can be said to be twists and turns.
First of all, the epidemic itself has had a certain impact on the preparation of UFC249. The logistics in the United States is not smooth, resulting in slow transportation of competition materials. Due to the restrictions of the “home order”, it is also difficult for UFC staff to maintain their original efficiency when traveling on business.
UFC President Bai Dana accepted Tiger Sports reporter KevinIole said in an interview that “isolating at home is like avoiding cancer, you have nowhere to hide”. Reporter Iole refuted “shaking hands with you will not cause me to get cancer” in the interview, and said that ignoring the “home order” will only prolong the time of the new coronary pneumonia.
Bai Dana ’s remarks were questioned by the American people and the media, which also made UFC249 ’s public opinion trend unfavorable to Bai Dana for a time. In addition to reporter Iole, there are many media that Bai Dana’s remarks are inappropriate and should comply with the “home order”. Among them, CBS believes that Bai Dana insists on starting the game in April, which puts the players and staff in a dangerous situation and ignores it; while the Guardian said that Bai Dana ’s decision to start the game is “reckless and not responsible” .
In all these doubts, if a public health safety accident really occurs in the UFC249 competition, you can imagine what kind of criticisms Bai Dana and UFC will face. Not only that, UFC249 will become the main argument of the opposition when other sports leagues try to rematch.
However, it seems that the outside world’s doubts can’t influence what Ba Dana does and how to do it. In an interview with ESPN, he said that he didn’t care what critics said, because critics could do nothing but criticize.
As early as the outbreak of the epidemic, Bai Dana once made a bold statement that he would not give up any game, but the development of the outbreak made him fail to do so.
So far, three fighting night games have been cancelled. They are London on March 21, Columbus on February 28 and Portland on April 11. Bai Da originally planned to move these games to UFC’s headquarters in Las Vegas, but the Nevada state government signed a bill that prohibits assembly of more than 10 people to make these efforts in vain.
And after these three races were cancelled, the heaviest UFC249 was near. Compared to the fighting night that was cancelled before, UFC249 is a match that Baidan and UFC cannot easily give up anyway. According to the original plan, this game will be challenged by the night monster Ferguson lightweight champion, 28 wins unbeaten Kitty Habib, is a title battle.
However, on April 5, Kitty Habib announced that Russia had restricted international flights due to the epidemic and prevented him from leaving Dagestan, so he would withdraw from UFC249.
Just as various anomalies occur frequently, Bai Dan still makes a commitment on Twitter, saying that UFC249 will be 100% on April 18th.Held at the time, and @ 了 夜 魔 Ferguson and the player who replaced the Hawk Hawb, Kitty Gaye. It took less than two days for Ba Dana to learn about the unexpected situation and find an alternate player.
After determining the players, the playing field becomes the key.
The UFC249 game was originally scheduled to be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, the ban issued by the New York State Athlete ’s Committee on March 18 led Bai Danao to find another venue for UFC249. One month.
During this month, Bai Dana also considered buying a private island and flying the players to the island by helicopter for competition. Bai Dana said that he is still promoting “island fighting” and expects it to be completed within a month.
On April 9th, when the start time of the 18th was less than 10 days, a new plan that seemed more feasible appeared. White and UFC decided to place the UFC249 game venue at the Tachi Palace casino in the Tachi-Yokut Indian tribe reserve in California.
The Indian reservation for the Daxi Palace Casino is located in the Santa Rosa area and is not under the jurisdiction of the California government. It can effectively circumvent the impact of the “Home Order”. In fact, Daxi Palace Casino has hosted 22 WEC fighting games before the legalization of California fighting events before 2006.
▲ Daxi Palace Casino has hosted 22 WEC fighting events long before the legalization of California fighting events Running a game here can circumvent the California government’s “foot ban”, but this plan eventually aborted.
However, the plan to play in the Daxi Palace Casino on April 18 was eventually aborted.
Beijing time on April 10th, due to the joint request of California Governor Gavin Newson, UFC parent company Disney “top personnel” and UFC digital partner ESPN, the UFC249 competition originally planned to be held on April 18th got canceled.
The headquarters in Nevada is unavailable due to the ban. The Daxi Palace Casino project in California has been pressured by the government and parent company executives. The UFC249 venue has once again become the biggest problem in the rematch. Just after the Daxi Palace Casino’s plan went bankrupt, the policy of rematching sporting events finally became loose in Florida.
On April 9, Florida Governor Long de Santis signed a document formally dividing Florida ’s “national professional sports activities” into religious activities, medical treatment, food supply, agriculture and other activities “Essential Business” at the same level, these activities are allowed to continue activities during the “Home Order”. The American Wrestling League WWE file was also able to continue to use the WWE studio in Orlando to continue the live broadcast of the air games and record related programs.
Seeing this opportunity, after taking another week of preparation, Bai Dana determined the new UFC249 venue and date on April 25: May 10, Jacksonville, Florida. After nearly a month of tossing, Bai Dana and UFC finally got their wish.
It can be seen from this tortuous course that the reason why White Dana and UFC can get rid of this “naked twist”, in addition to the “fearless” execution of White Dana himself, there are many other The factors are worthy of reference for other events.
First of all, the support of the regional government is the top priority.
In the Daxi Palace Casino plan, although it is not a violation of California law and a “home order” to hold a game in the Indian Reservation, California Governor Newson’s opposition has had a great influence on the final result. In contrast, Florida, sports are approved as “essential activities” in Florida is only the legal basis for the rematch during the outbreak. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bai Dan admitted that in the process of UFC249 application for the rematch, the support of Florida Governor De Santis and Jacksonville Mayor Curry played a crucial role.
Secondly, as a comprehensive fighting, as an individual project, it is easier to control the number of people than a group project such as basketball and football, which also facilitates the prevention and control of epidemic events in a certain degree.
According to ESPN, during the UFC249 competition, the number of production teams in the Veterans Memorial Gymnasium was reduced from 130 to less than 50. The number of players on the scene, including the team of players, medical staff and referees, was also controlled below 100, and no reporters would enter the octagonal cage to interview the players after the game.
In addition, all the staff in the venue had arrived at the hotel at least 4 days before the competition and had performed nucleic acid testing in the hotel. For the contestants, they will also receive a one-on-one treatment with medical staff before and after the competition. During the treatment, the player will first disinfect the body and measure the body temperature, and then the medical staff will treat the player, and the treatment room will be fully disinfected every 40 minutes.
It is worth mentioning that the UFC249 production team also made some adjustments to the broadcast. In an interview with ESPN, the UFC executive deputy general manager Craig Bosari said that due to the empty game, the production team will receiveThe emphasis is on making the sound in the octagonal cage. “When broadcasting UFC249, our team focused on the octagonal cage. You can hear the sound of the fist hitting the body and the shouting of the coach on the sidelines when guiding the players.” Explained.
After successfully getting rid of the difficulties, the risks previously taken by UFC and Bai Dana will be realized in return.
According to the “Sun” forecast, UFC249’s PPV sales are likely to exceed 2 million copies. If this prediction is accurate, then this will be the second highest PPV sales in UFC history. “The Sun” also said that because UFC249 is the only top event in the United States during the epidemic, the final PPV sales may be even higher.
▲ From the historical sales of UFC PPV, if the forecast of 2 million copies of The Sun is true, then UFC249 will rank second in the historical sales list.
According to the five-year US $ 1.5 billion copyright cooperation signed between UFC and ESPN last year, UFC will provide ESPN with 30 games each year. Counting only the broadcast fee income, the average income per game is about 10 million US dollars. The three previously canceled fighting night games may lose nearly 30 million US dollars in income. According to UFC249’s pricing of 64.99 USD on PPV, as long as PPV sales reach one million levels, it can cover the previous losses.
In addition to economic income, the landing of UFC249 has also made UFC and Bai Danao full reputation. Just three hours before the start of UFC249, US President Trump specially made a video to express his congratulations and appreciation for Bai Dana. According to a report by TMZ Sports, Trump said that he will use the UFC rematch case as a guide for future U.S. professional sports rematches.
Bai Dana, the world’s most determined “rematch player”, seems to bet.