UFC 249, scheduled for Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., has hit its first snag: One of its fighters has the coronavirus. Ronaldo Souza, a fighter scheduled against Uriah Hall on the undercard, tested positive on Friday. ESPN, which is broadcasting the card, reported the news.
According to the report, Souza arrived in Florida on Wednesday and told the UFC that he had a family member with the virus. Without any symptoms, Souza isolated and was tested. The positive result came back Friday night.
The rest of the card will still happen with Florida state officials’ blessing.
UFC president Dana White, a longtime Trump ally, was pushing for UFC events to go ahead in March before ESPN finally cut him off. He claimed Friday that the president will be closely monitoring UFC 249 to see how to reopen the rest of the country.
UFC 249 was originally scheduled for April 18 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The next two major events — UFC 250 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and UFC 251 in Perth, Australia — already have been postponed because of the global pandemic.