Midnight Mania! Marvin Vettori blasts ‘negative media,’ will be ‘pissed’ if UFC 249 is canceled again

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC 249. It was nearly here, then it wasn’t, and now we’re once again at the “nearly here!” stage. For those keeping track, it’s roughly the same amount of time from the event as the moment right before ESPN/Disney pulled the plug on the whole April 19th show over safety concerns.

UFC Middleweight Marvin Vettori is among the many athletes who saw a fight cancelled in April due to COVID-19. Though he has not yet officially been re-booked, Vettori is manning the front lines against “wimpy media members” who question whether UFC 249 really must go on.

Vettori was responding to a Bloody Elbow article that interviews an Epidemiologist, whose main concern is stopping the spread of the virus. The whole piece is worth a read, but here’s a worthwhile quote, “Another major concern that I would have is not just people bringing the virus to Jacksonville, but if there is a chain of transmission at one of these events and then these fighters and their entourages go back to where they came from, they could seed multiple outbreaks in other areas that had otherwise been doing a pretty good job of controlling the virus.“

To summarize, there’s more at risk here than the fighters who volunteered for the event, even if they need the cash.

Ultimately, this serves as a small-scale example of the greater divided response to the Coronavirus crisis. A best case scenario would see the nearly the entire populace doing nothing at all, staying home and limiting the virus’s spread until it has slowed to a crawl. However, the unfortunate reality is that many — possibly including Vettori — run the risk of destitution if continually forced out of work.

Insomnia

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Slips, rips, and IFL clips

Last night, Caposa posted a bunch of awesome IFL clips that will sustain the column another few nights — shoutout to him!

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 249 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+/Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+/ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 249: “Ferguson vs. Gaethje” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.