Is that a light at the end of the tunnel?
Dana White, president of the UFC, made one of the biggest announcements in quite some time…
UFC 216 will be the first full-capacity sporting event since the pandemic began a year ago.
“What’s up, everybody? UFC President Dana White here and I have been waiting a year for this day to tell you – we are back!
UFC 261 on April 24 in Jacksonville, Florida, with a full house of fans, full capacity at the five-star Veterans Memorial Arena, and you know I’m bringing an incredible card.”
Did you hear those words? Those magical words? Full house of fans, full capacity.
Throughout this entire pandemic, Dana White and the UFC have not been afraid to push the pace of live sporting events. They were one of the first sports league to bring back fan-less events back in May 2020, and now they will be the first sporting league to bring back a sold-out event almost a year later.
Yes, this will be controversial. People are going to have their opinions in both directions. But one thing is undeniable: The tides are turning. We are on the downward of this incredibly sad and frustrating time and now have great things to look forward to, including, but not limited to LIVE MUSIC. So yeah, I’m excited this is happening.
The fight card is shaping up to be an all-time great one as well with three, count them THREE, title fights:
Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal will rematch for the Welterweight Title (Masvidal stepped up to fight Kamaru on only 6 days notice, insane for any fight let alone one for the belt, in July for the first event held on Fight Island, in Abu Dhabi), Valentina Shevchenko will defend her Woman’s Flyweight belt against Jessica Andrade and Weili Zhang will put her Strawweight belt on the line against Rose Namajunas.
Three fights that fans have been asking for and Dana White is delivering. And that’s all that’s been announced so far, you know there’s going to be some fireworks in the lead up…
The Texas Rangers have also announced their intent to have a full capacity crowd for their season opener, but it remains to be seen how they plan to work that out.
You can smell the end of all this right around the corner. This is a huge step closer to outdoor concerts and festivals.
Hold on, everyone, we’re almost there.
