Things could soon get more difficult for the UFC.
During the UFC 257 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White was unsure when the UFC would return to Abu Dhabi.
“Who knows? While we were here (Abu Dhabi), there was a new inauguration in the U.S. and we’ll see what happens,” White said. “Traveling in America and all this stuff is going to be another massive challenge for us this year.’”
White was later asked about his remark on travel to America.
“It sounds like things are tightening up over there (in the U.S.),’ White said. ’Talking about 14-day quarantine like Canada and stuff like that. If that happens, that’s going to be a problem.”
According to NPR that travel ban, under the administration of president Joe Biden. is going to take effect today (Monday, January 25th). This doubles as a reinstatement of the travel restrictions lifted by the outgoing Trump Administration prior to departing the White House.
The ban reportedly will include non-US citizen travelers from the Schengen Area, which comprises the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The ban will also include South Africa and Brazil.
In addition, the CDC stated it will require all travelers flying to America to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before travel. All of this comes as new COVID variants detected first in the United Kingdom and South Africa have shown to be more contagious than other strains. The B.1.1.7 variant has already been detected in at least 20 US states.
The UFC is returning to Las Vegas for at least its February events, starting with Alistair Overeem vs. Alexander Volkov on the 6th.
*Bloody Elbow reached out to the UFC comment, but did not get a reply before publication.
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