Photo by Alexandre Schneider /Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Geraldo de Freitas is “apprehensive” about getting paid for their cancelled UFC London bout.
Geraldo de Freitas is one of the many fighters part of the recently postponed UFC events. Although he initially still wanted to push through to earn a paycheck, the bantamweight originally booked for UFC London opened up and detailed his worries and fears during the rollercoaster of events leading up to the cancellation.
Although Freitas was aware of the risks, and was also “afraid” about traveling and competing despite the coronavirus pandemic, he was ultimately disappointed that he won’t be able to compete.
“I understand it. It’s a critical situation all around the world,” Freitas told Bloody Elbow’s Lucas Rezende. “Personally, I’m very worried about the global crisis that is coming. The whole world will stop. We have no idea what this is, we’ve never seen the world stop like that.
“I was bummed because I invested three months of my life into this fight, (into training and) dieting. I felt more ready than ever, my weight was doing great,” he said.
“That’s frustrating, sure, but then I started to think about all the people in the world whose lives are turned upside down because of this. So we need to stay calm, take precautions and have faith in God.”
Related: Coronavirus: MMA fighters can’t ‘work from home,’ can’t afford not to train and fight
One thing that still leaves Freitas anxious though, is that he is still unsure whether or not the UFC will compensate him and his fellow fighters in any way. He already completed and spent money for months of training, banking on the incoming paycheck from the bout, but isn’t sure how the UFC is going to handle it.
When Bellator cancelled their event due to the coronavirus, Scott Coker stated that fighters, staff, and officials were all still paid. Freitas is hoping the UFC follows suit, but while Dana White sent a lengthy email about the cancellations, they were still completely left in the dark about compensation.
“They haven’t talked to us about payment at all yet,” Freitas said. “I asked Dede (Pederneiras, my manager and coach) about it and he said he was trying to get a meeting today to talk about that. I’m going to ask him about it again tomorrow.
“Here’s what I think. The UFC is a huge, serious company, I think they will take care of us athletes. I don’t know,” he said. “They have a lot of money, years and years of profit. So I think they have enough money to take care of us right now, but we don’t know what they’re going to do. We’re a little apprehensive about that.”