President Donald Trump hints at a possible timeline for UFC's return
UFC top boss Dana White was among the ten major sports league commissioners who joined the conference call meeting with US President Donald Trump on Saturday.
It was announced by White House only hours before the scheduled time for the virtual meeting. Afterwards, Trump held a press conference to give an update about the pandemic situation and how the United States is dealing with the crisis. Among the several issues he addressed, his conversation with the sports league heads was highlighted upon by the POTUS.
MMA Junkie reported on it.
Donald Trump: Sports will be back as soon as possible
Other than White, the scheduled participants on the teleconference call with Trump were the head of NBA Adam Silver, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NHL head Gary Bettman and WWE CEO Vince McMahon, among others.
In the press conference, later on, Trump said that the USA as a nation was not designed for a complete shutdown of entertainment on all fronts, and neither were the sports agencies.
"These are all the great leaders of sport. They want to get back. They’ve got to get back. They can’t do this. Their sports weren’t designed for it. The whole concept of our nation wasn’t designed for it. We’re going to have to get back. We want to get back soon – very soon."
UFC already had to postpone three events indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak, and White was not too happy about it. The UFC 249 event, which he was so adamant to put on, is now in jeopardy as well.
The POTUS steered clear from giving any specific date or a timeline, emphasizing on the fact that the need of the hour was to stay away from gatherings. But he assured his countrymen that things will go back to normal, "sooner rather than later".
"I can’t tell you a date, but I think it’s going to be sooner rather than later. We’re not going to have separation for the rest of our times on the planet. We need it for this period of time. Eventually, people are going to be able to occupy those seats in arenas next to each other like we have for all of my life and all of your life."