Dana White on UFC returning in Florida: 'Somebody's gotta take the first step'
Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole spoke to the UFC president in a one-on-one interview about the sport's decision to return on May 9 at UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida -- the first of three events in the city over a one-week span.
Video Transcript
KEVIN IOLE: Fill me in on how you came to Jacksonville, and was it a no-brainer when the governor basically said sports are an essential service?
DANA WHITE: Absolutely. And, you know, we have the sign off from the governor, the mayor. The athletic commission is involved. So, yeah, it's all good.
KEVIN IOLE: A lot different. When you were going to Tachi Palace, you know, you were dealing with the issue of the fact that, you know, the US senator don't want it there. The governor didn't want it there. You know, nobody was going to regulate it. So it was a lot different there than now going to Florida, correct?
DANA WHITE: Yeah, and it's not that nobody was going to regulate it. You know, when we travel, you know, to other countries, we saw-- we have Marc Ratner, And, you know, our safety record is literally perfect. So we were never going to not regulate.
KEVIN IOLE: Right.
DANA WHITE: Go ahead.
KEVIN IOLE: I was just going to say, you know, the one thing I noticed in the mayor's comment was kind of interesting, and he talked about the impact to the economy. And I can't imagine it's going to impact the economy like a normal UFC fight would because you're going to have no fans, right? So where's he coming from with this economic impact and revitalizing Florida where he's talking about?
DANA WHITE: Listen, the commission's still going to make money on the thing. They're going to make money. And at some point, Kevin, we have to figure out how do you get things back to normal but do it in a really safe way? The only way to find out is to get out there and start doing it.
You know, we're going to spend a lot of money. This isn't going to be cheap. It's going to be expensive. Every time that you're worried about safety, health and safety of everybody-- the fighters, you know, the commission, the referees, my staff that's going to be there. It's not cheap. It's expensive. It's hard, but somebody has got to take the first step and get out there. We can't just stay in our houses till next December.
KEVIN IOLE: Well, you know, the thing everybody wants to know is the testing, right? So I'm assuming that you're going to test everybody, and you're going to be taking temperatures and that kind of thing?
DANA WHITE: I mean, we have-- first of all, we submitted a very comprehensive 30-page document to the governor of Nevada on how we're going to, you know, run the sport-- not just the sport but our office once we get, you know, our employees back in here working again. You know, I care very much about the fighters. I care very much about my staff, obviously my family. We're going to do everything way up here. You know, we always do.
Health and safety is an issue for us for the last 20 years. You know, there's a lot of companies and a lot of businesses out there that now the health and safety of their employees is something new.
KEVIN IOLE: Right.
DANA WHITE: But, you know, it's not new for us. This is something that we, you know, not only deal with on a weekly basis but we take great pride in the fact that we have such a great track record.
KEVIN IOLE: Sure. You know, obviously anybody who's followed the UFC for a long time understands that and that you have committed a lot of resources to that. You know, in terms-- this virus is a little different. I guess, you know, you just were a little vague, and so I just want to pin you down if I can a little bit. You know, you did not say, yes, you were going to test everybody, and I guess that's the thing that people want to know, that, you know, hey, I think people feel a lot better about it if you say yes, Kevin Iole's in that arena. He's going to be tested. Dana White's in that arena. He's going to be tested. And I guess that's the thing, and you seem to be hesitant to say yes.
DANA WHITE: It's not that I'm hesitant to say anything. I'm just not telling the media anything. I'm not telling them anything. You know, basically I told you health and safety is important. It's always, you know, whatever with us. Just the more you put out there, you know, it's going to be on ESPN. There aren't going to be any fans there. You know, it's not going to be there's 15,000 people inside this arena that are going to spread out throughout the country and--
KEVIN IOLE: OK.
DANA WHITE: --you know, all this other crap. So we're putting on an event. It's going to be safe.
