Had UFC 249 gone through, Daniel Cormier would have been calling it along with Joe Rogan and Jon Anik. Just not alongside each other.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, UFC 249 was planned to take place April 18 on tribal land in California. That was until UFC president Dana White got the call from the higher-ups at Disney to stand down.
But what if that didn’t happen?
Cormier — who also serves as a color commentator — already spoke of how he would be willing to call fights during the pandemic as long as certain measures were taken. And speaking to Ariel Helwani on Monday, “DC” revealed how it was set to take place.
“One of the biggest worries for me was, no one can go with you — like nobody,” Cormier said (via BJ Penn). “They said ‘DC, you’ve got to come along. You’re going to check into the hotel, they’re going to screen you, and make sure you’re ok. Then you’re going to go into the arena, call the fights, then you’re going to leave.’ I mean, in terms of what they were going to try to do to protect us, it was crazy. [Joe] Rogan, myself, and [Jon] Anik — the Octagon has eight sides — we would each be on a different side of the Octagon [rather than side-by-side] just to make sure we were social distancing away from each other.
“By the time I was done with this conversation [with the UFC], I felt like I was almost safer at the event than I am anywhere else because it’s only people that are ok, we’re all away from each other, you go and get paid, and you’re there for a day. I could have drove up Saturday morning, called the fights, drove home Saturday night. It was perfect for me.”
In the end, it wasn’t to be. But Cormier’s revelation only further highlights just how far the UFC was willing to go to stage fights during an unprecedented time.
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