Chael Sonnen Defends Dana White For Moving Forward With Events
Chael Sonnen defended UFC president Dana White for planning on going ahead with booking events despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Although three of the UFC’s upcoming shows were canceled because of government restrictions, White has maintained that the UFC 249 card headlined between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson on April 18 would still take place. He has also claimed that he plans on resuming the UFC’s schedule afterwards.
He has received plenty of criticism from the media since and while Sonnen believes it’s fair criticism, he also can understand where White is coming from. That’s because Sonnen is also booking a Submission Underground event taking place today in Portland:
“I think it’s very fair,” Sonnen responded when asked about the criticism by MMA Fighting (via Bloody Elbow). “I mean, we’ve gone out of our way, we’ve brought in medical personnel, we’ve brought in experts. We will have everybody quarantined, we will follow every single rule that there is, no matter how many times that rule changes between now and then. I think it’s very fair that people are concerned. I think they should respect what’s going on.
“I personally don’t prescribe to ‘everything stops in its tracks,’ and it does appear that those are your only two choices right now, right? You’ve got a green light and you got a red light. Look, there’s ways to do things that are safe. There’s ways to do things where you’re listening to the experts and you’re in full compliance. If you can pull that off and move forward? I mean, people need to make a living. People need to have a job, have something to do, have their goals, and move forward. I’m not going to stop them, but I’m not going to overly look away, man. We’re dealing with something serious.”
Sonnen went on to add that while the media criticize White for a lack of caution, there are a number of fighters who in private are depending on him for their living:
“You know, look, I—it seems that Dana can never win,” Sonnen explained. “I mean, nobody ever wants to give him any credit. All he’s trying to do is what he said he will do. He’s got everybody calling him quietly. People come out publicly and they want to challenge him, privately they want to call him and say, ‘Man, do I got a job? Do I have something to do? I’ve got a family, how do I plan my year?’ The only way he knows how to answer that question with a ‘yes’ is by doing business.
“That’s what he is, is a businessman. So he goes out and does what he’s supposed to do, that benefits all sorts of people that count on him—but they all do that private. Then publicly, they want to come out like they’re a bigger expert than he is. Man, nobody’s pretending to be an expert, they’re just pretending that they move life forward! What’s wrong with that message, how can that possibly be a bad message!”
Of course, what White could do is just cancel the upcoming events and pay the fighters their purses. But that doesn’t seem to be the plan at all.
Do you agree with Sonnen?
