Dana White Expresses Concerns Over Las Vegas Re-Opening
Las Vegas has hosted some of the UFC’s most memorable events in recent years and has played a crucial part in the brand’s increased success. However, local resident Dana White has called for a re-think of the city’s swift plans to reopen.
A return to business in the city would certainly benefit Dana but he has expressed concerns about the dangers to the public.
City Mayor Carolyn Goodman, raised fears among residents this week when she announced on CNN that Vegas could be used as a testing ground for the re-opening of America. Nevada has already seen 4,539 cases of coronavirus, which have resulted in 206 deaths.
Speaking to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports (as transcribed by The Mac Life), Dana called for the re-opening to be done right the first time around to avoid a ‘second wave’.
“I don’t know how you go on Anderson Cooper and not be prepared for the questions that are going to be asked,” Dana said. “Especially when you’re being so aggressive about opening up. The reality is though, there’s a lot of smart people in this city who run very big businesses and care about their employees. What you want to do is, when you open back up, you want to do it right the first time so that we don’t have to shut down again.
“And I know from talking to the Fertitta brothers, to other people who run and own casinos in this town, they’re working very hard to figure out how to do this safely and the right way. Everbody’s been quarantined. Everybody has a family. Everybody wants everybody to be safe. It’s not like people are like, ‘Money means everything. Let’s get out there and open it’. Everybody wants to be safe and do it the right way.”
Dana went on to praise State Governor Sisolak, for his efforts in implementing the lockdown.
“I actually think Sisolak has done a good job. I think he’s done a good job and people have taken what he’s said seriously. For Vegas to shut down… it’s a thing for people who live here can’t even comprehend, but we did it, and everybody’s been quarantining and I think it’s been handled the right way,” Dana said.
“The biggest fear for everyone to open up first, especially when you’re a destination like Vegas, is the amount of people that will flock here. You’re going to have groups of people that have been locked up for god knows how long … and what’s going to happen is if we open up in Nevada, they’re going to be pouring out of California and coming to Nevada. There’s so many different things that you have to look at when you’re a governor or whatever it might be that need to be dealt with.”
Expressing his frustrations, Dana wanted to make it clear that he has a plan in place for the UFC to safely return.
“People think that I don’t take this serious because I wanna come back so fast and all this other stuff. It’s not that I don’t take it serious, I take it very serious. I don’t plan on having a gate for a very long time. Things like going into the week of where we have open workouts and all these things that we do for the fans — everybody wants to ask me, ‘Location, location, location’. Location doesn’t even matter anymore. It’s on ESPN. That’s all you need to know and all you need to care about.
“I’m already thinking way ahead of these types of things. All I need to worry about is making sure everybody is safe and I can put on these events. I don’t need a crowd.”
In the last week, Dana White has revealed that the UFC will hold four events in two weeks in Jacksonville, Florida next month, and that his Fight Island will be ready to hold international fight cards by June.
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