After several months of silence due to coronavirus concerns, boxing and MMA have both begun to regularly run events once again. When the pandemic first began, both MMA and boxing organizations were forced to close their doors for the foreseeable future. However, two of the world’s leading MMA organizations have already begun to run fights, while boxing had one of its first few fights under coronavirus regulations only recently.

   When COVID-19 first struck, each MMA organization struggled with the temporary event ban. While many were forced to wait and see what would happen, UFC President Dana White had his own approach. 

   “My philosophy is we can do this, we can figure it out, we can solve any problem. My team is the best in the world” White said when asked by Sports Illustrated. His immediate reaction was to try as hard as he could to return the UFC to action. 

   The UFC’s first priority was to organize a fight card while still preserving both staff and fighter safety. Where every other organization, including their rival Bellator, were unable to run events, the UFC managed to safely host their first major card, UFC 249: Gaethje vs Ferguson, on May 9 in Jacksonville, Fla. In order to preserve fighter and staff safety, both events had specific regulations which everyone involved had to follow. 

   Anyone who planned to participate in UFC events were forced to isolate themselves at specific host hotels several weeks before the fights started. Meanwhile, they were tested two times before being allowed to participate in anything related to the event as either a staff member or fighter, each test being around two weeks apart. After these two initial tests, the fighters are procedurally tested until the night of the fight. If the tests come back negative, a fighter would be allowed to participate in the card, but if any test comes back positive, they are immediately removed from the card and are to isolate themselves in the hotel until further instructions are given by the UFC medical team. These events were also made to be Pay-Per-View and streaming only, so that no fans could risk contaminating or be contaminated by the staff. 

   Several fighters tested positive for COVID-19, such as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, but most of the fighters were able to participate with no problems. 

   “I was very sad to not be able to fight at UFC 249 […] I will be secluded with my family and coaches and focused on our health so I can be back soon.” said Souza via Instagram.

    After that successful event, the UFC hosted one more major fight card before revealing their plans for international athletes: Fight Island. 

   Rumors had spiraled around earlier in the year that the UFC planned to purchase an island in order to safely organize fights in isolation. Many thought them baseless after the success that was UFC 249, but Fight Island is real. Fight Island is another name for Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, where the UFC has set up shop. There, the UFC can safely organize fights with international athletes, bypassing travel restrictions for several countries. 

   The first fight card there was UFC 251, on July 12, featuring Kamaru Usman facing Gilbert Burns for the welterweight championship belt, only for Burns to test positive and be replaced with Jorge Masvidal on short notice. “I just think it’s a Florida thing. We’re not safe anywhere. We have to stay home.” said Burns told ESPN. Burns and his team were safely isolated, successfully preventing contamination. 

   Shortly after this, Bellator was finally able to organize their first fight card after quarantine began.

   Bellator, alongside the rest of the MMA world, was leagues behind the UFC in their reaction to Covid-19. As such, their first fight card, Bellator 242, took place on July 24, 2020, several months after the UFC hosted their’s. They used nearly identical rules to those of the UFC: no fans, mandatory testing, isolation of staff and fight teams, et cetera. When Bellator 242 concluded safely, they immediately ran Bellator 243 and 244 only several weeks after, on Aug. 7 and Aug. 21 respectively. Meanwhile, boxing has begun to run fight cards in competition with MMA.

   Boxing has only recently started organizing events, with the first major card after quarantine being Dillian Whyte vs Alexander Povetkin on Aug. 22, under Matchroom Boxing. However, some minor cards had been run under the DAZN banner even earlier than that, with the earliest being run some time around July 22. Their events have, similarly to MMA, had no fan attendance, and only a select group of staff and people who work with the fighters are allowed onto the venue. 

   However, there are several events coming up within the next few months which are planned to potentially allow a limited number of fans to attend as a part of the crowd. This is something that no MMA organization has made any plans to match as of yet, and for good reason. To do this, they risk infecting both fighters and fans participating in these events. In order to lower this risk, the current plan is to host it in Nicaragua, where there is no quarantine due to the incredibly low number of cases, alongside several health safety measures, such as social distancing. It has yet to be seen whether these precautions will be successful.