Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
“Deaths are terrible, and I’m very sorry for all the families that have suffered through that but pneumonia, just a typical flu season right now has killed close to 20,000 people.”
‘Smilin’’ Sam Alvey probably wasn’t smiling when he got news of his UFC on ESPN 8 bout cancellation, and the 33-year-old is just about sick of hearing about the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to MMA Fighting in a recent interview, the UFC veteran expressed his disappointment with the Khalil Rountree fight cancellation and explained why he thinks people are massively overreacting to coronavirus. Alvey compared death rates of COVID-19 (157 confirmed deaths in US, 10,456 deaths worldwide) with the regular flu, which has reportedly killed 22,000 Americans since last October.
“I’m very disappointed,” Alvey said. “I thought for sure it was going to happen, but I’m still convinced that this pandemic is going to pass in the minds of the American people.
“It’s really embarrassing for me, for our country that it hasn’t yet already. But it’s one of those things. You can’t see the future all the time.”
“It’s a huge overreaction. Deaths are terrible, and I’m very sorry for all the families that have suffered through that but pneumonia, just a typical flu season right now has killed close to 20,000 people, and people just don’t pay attention to that.
“It’s terrible that people are getting sick and not that many people are dying, but they still are, and that’s terrible, but when you compare it to any other flu season, even our current flu season, it’s killing 15 to 20,000 people in a three month span.”
Alvey thinks people will soon get sick of the US government’s heavy-handed intervention in the free market and hopes life will go back to normal as soon as possible.
“I think the entire world of knowledge we can get at any time of any day,” Alvey said. “We just have to click on our phone so everyone’s opinion is out there. If one state has banned bars from opening at 9 o’clock, then we have to do that, because if we don’t do that … and it explodes like that. I was convinced my fight was going to continue next week because I’m convinced in the next week or two the American people are going to be sick of this.
“I still suspect it’s going to be like a light switch. It’s going to turn off and people are going to stop caring. People are just going to be upset that stuff is getting closed. I feel like as fast as this is getting everyone riled up, I think everyone is going to be done with it almost as quickly.”
To check out the full interview with Alvey, click here.
The UFC has had to cancel its next three events but UFC president Dana White is confident that Khabib vs. Ferguson will go ahead next month. Although UFC 249 is currently without a venue, the pay-per-view is still expected to take place on April 18.