FALCON POINTS
UFC provides blueprint for what sports might look like this year
May 13, 2020, 6:55 am
Photo by Getty Images
The UFC 249 card is in the books, and we learned a lot about how sports will look this year if it exists.
There we no fans, nor will there likely be for a long time. But it was the process leading up to it that should provide some confidence for other events going forward.
The UFC tested over 1,200 times with 300 people. One fighter, Ronaldo Souza, tested positive, and his fight was called off. The rest, however, went off and watching it on TV, it looked like a normal card.
Dana White said the testing worked.
"It's not unexpected one person would test positive," he said. "The system works. And what's good about this is now we know Jacare tested positive, he's doing what he needs to do, and we're in a position to help him if he needs it."
The other sports where physical contact is necessary now have a blueprint: No fans, constant testing and as few people in the building as possible.
Sports like football, basketball and hockey are similar in that there is physical contact. But fighting limits it to the two combatants and the referee; that is impossible in the other sports.
Still, if they follow the UFC's example, games could conceivably be played. The real issue is what happens if several players on one team test positive? Is the entire team quarantined? Is the opponent they just played? The other issue is should tests be used for this when many people still don't have access?
Having said all that, the fights were a nice escape, something many of us could use right now.
White, for his part, has offered to share how they did things with other sports leaders. "We're willing to share our information with anybody," he told TMZ.
More sports will roll out over the next few weeks. NASCAR, Bundesliga soccer in Germany. The EPL could be back on June 1, but the league is still weighing whether or not it will. The choice is the same all of them will face - safety versus the need for normalcy.
"We want to get the seasons back going for the commercial reasons, for the moral reasons, for people to enjoy it," the head of the UK football police unit, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, told Sky Sports.
"But we have to remind ourselves that cannot be at the risk of putting a single further life at jeopardy."
The UFC has taken the first step. Now, others will follow. Let's hope it all works out.
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Michael Wacha scattered four hits over six innings, Vinnie Pasquantino homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 2-0 for the second straight night Saturday to run their winning streak to six.
Wacha (1-3) once again received little run support, but the veteran right-hander made the meager production stand up on chilly evening at Kauffman Stadium. He struck out six while walking two and never allowed a runner past second base.
Steven Cruz worked the seventh for Kansas City, his seventh appearance this season without allowing a run. John Schreiber left runners on the corners in the eighth, and Carlos Estévez had a perfect ninth for his seventh save.
Bobby Witt Jr. doubled and scored in the first inning for the Royals, extending his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.
Framber Valdez (1-3) gave up a sacrifice fly to Mark Canha in the first inning and Pasquantino's shot down the right-field line in the fifth. Otherwise, the Astros left-hander kept Kansas City in check, allowing three hits and two walks over eight innings.
Valdez had tossed seven shutout innings against the Royals last August in a 3-2 victory.
The Astros, who have lost five straight at the K, have managed just nine hits while getting shut out over the first two games of the series. They had rolled into Kansas City having won three straight and five of their last six games.
Key moment
Isaac Parades hit a two-out double and Jeremy Peña followed with a single to give Houston runners on the corners in the eighth inning. Schreiber bounced back to strike out Christian Walker with a four-seam fastball to end the threat.
Key stat
The Royals have only scored seven runs in the 32 innings that Wacha has pitched this season.
Up next
RHP Hunter Brown (3-1, 1.16) tries to extend a 24-inning scoreless streak for Houston in the series finale Sunday. LHP Kris Bubic (2-1, 1.45) gets the start for Kansas City after tossing seven shutout innings against the Rockies his last time out.