Ferguson says he has an awesome opportunity to entertain people as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
“Seriously, I’m going to be real – this is awesome,” Ferguson said at the UFC 249 Conference Call (via Dave Doyle of MMA Junkie). “You can hear this in both of our voices, dude. There’s no (expletive) with this. When they have the wars going on and everything else, they only had the Olympics going on. Right now, there’s no Olympics, there’s no Wimbledon, there’s no NBA Draft, there’s no NFL Draft, there’s no (expletive) tennis, there’s no soccer, hockey, there’s no baseball. This is what we bring to the table, man, and we’re going to do our best and we’re going to keep sports alive and that’s what we’re going to do.”
WorldOMeters reports that 3,808,488 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, while 263,877 have passed away due to the virus.
Gaethje is also happy to be competing at UFC 249, as he views it as a chance to inspire people during the pandemic.
“I’m (expletive) proud to be a part of it,” Gaethje said. “There’s a good opportunity to inspire. People need to be inspired right now. They need to not let themselves become depressed (and) emotional because they can’t control what’s going on right now. They need to be inspired in a way, and we have the opportunity.”
UFC 249 takes place on Saturday, May 9 from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida with Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
