Sports leagues around the globe grapple with returning — and the new normal
FLA.» Kicks, punches JACKSONVILLE, and grunts echoed through the empty arena. Coaches, commentators and camera clicks resonated like never before. Blood, sweat, swollen eyelids and face masks signaled the return of UFC, the first major sporting event to resume since the coronavirus shuttered much of the country for nearly two months.
UFC 249 ushered in a new look for sports, too. One without fans and amid several safety precautions.
It was definitely different — two fighters adjusted their approaches because of what they heard announcers say — and a welcome reprieve for a sports-craved country that went nearly eight weeks with few live events.
“We did this for you, to bring sports back,” fighter Tony Ferguson told fans following his loss in the main event.
Justin Gaethje stunned heavily favored Ferguson (26-4) in the finale. Gaethje earned a TKO in the fifth and final round of the headliner that was deemed an interim lightweight title bout. It essentially gives Gaethje (22-2) the right to fight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov next. Nurmagomedov was unable to fight this weekend because of travel restrictions.
Gaethje flipped over the top of the cage and back in following the biggest victory of his career.
“I want the real one,” he said as he threw down the interim belt. “There’s no other fight I want right now.”
The stacked card saw 33-year-old Henry Cejudo, with blood gushing from his forehead and running down his chest, defend his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz and then announce his retirement in the middle of the octagon. Cejudo won titles at Coronado High School before going on to claim Olympic gold in 2008.
“I really do want to walk away, but money talks,” Cejudo said. “It gets stagnant. I want to leave on top.”
The event also included heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou pummeling another opponent and former NFL defensive end Greg Hardy winning for the sixth time in eight fights.
Under 1% of MLB employees test positive for virus antibodies.
YORK» Just 0.7% of Major League NEW
Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Researchers received 6,237 completed surveys from employees of 26 clubs. That led to 5,754 samples obtained in the U.S. on April 14 and 15 and 5,603 records that were used. The survey kit had a 0.5% false positive rate.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford, one of the study’s leaders, said the prevalence of the antibodies among MLB employees was lower than for the general population during testing in New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco area and Miami.
“I was expecting a little bit of a higher number,” Bhattacharya said Sunday. “The set of people in the
MLB employee population that we tested in some sense have been less affected by the COVID epidemic than their surrounding communities.”
World sports authorities grapple with decisions. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says sports can resume — if only members of your own household are playing. How the Premier League can restart should become clearer in the coming days.
Any restart during the coronavirus pandemic is not just reliant on the government, which is planning Tuesday to outline the path to group training by sports teams being allowed again.
The 20 Premier League clubs head into their latest conference call on Monday split over a plan to use neutral stadiums to complete the season that was halted in March.
• The Spanish league is not changing its plan to resume competing after five players from clubs in the first and second divisions tested positive for COVID-19, with president Javier Tebas saying Sunday he hopes it can restart on June 12.
• The president of the French Tennis Federation says holding the French Open without fans later this year is an option.