BOXING promoter Bob Arum told Dana White he “ought to be ashamed of himself” as the UFC president refuses to cancel his next pay-per-view event despite the coronavirus pandemic.
White is not giving up on staging UFC 249 – originally set for Brooklyn on April 18 – despite New York’s athletic commissions banning combat sport indefinitely and champion Khabib Nurmagomedov ruled out as he self-isolates in Russia.
Bob Arum told Dana White he ‘ought to be ashamed of himself’ as the UFC president refuses to cancel UFC 249
Dana White is adamant UFC 249 will go ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic
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As he searches for a new location and main event, the UFC president is adamant the show must go on – even if that means behind closed doors.
But veteran boxing promoter Arum – White’s long-term rival – blasted the MMA chief for having “flawed intelligence” as he wants to stage the fight amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
He told CBS: “[White] ought to be ashamed of himself.
“What’s going on in this country and the world with this virus, the last thing we need is for an event to take place with no spectators just to get the event to take place.
“But the truth is Dana White is somebody with a flawed intelligence.”
If the card happens with people dying in hospitals all over the United States, he ought to be ashamed of himself.
Bob Arum on Dana White staging UFC 249
During the early rise of MMA and the UFC, Arum was critical of the “garbage” sport and the technical ability of fighters in a 2009 interview with now esteemed reporter Ariel Helwani.
But he did praise “great promoters” White and former owners of the promotion Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for building their ever growing brand.
However, 88-year-old Top Rank boss Arum – who still does not follow UFC – slammed White for not encouraging his fighters and staff to remain in self-isolation to help stop the spread of the virus.
He added: “He’s not going to move forward with the card, and if the card happens with people dying in hospitals all over the United States, he ought to be ashamed of himself.
“The message should be stay home and stand down until this is over. Let’s not spread the virus, let’s control the virus and do what we can to staff these hospitals and take care of people who go into intensive care.
“Let’s all be big people and big boys about it and stop the grandstanding.
“This will end when it ends, and it will end quicker if we all stick together and do what we are supposed to do, not go and shout from the rafters that, ‘I’m not a p***y and I’m going to put this fight on. I don’t care’.
“That is absolutely the wrong message to send.”
UFC 249 could be back on as Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier offered to step in and replace stranded Khabib
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
