The coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to life for everyone around the world with mixed martial arts fighters being among the many drastically affected.
Former Strikeforce champion and current American Top Team (ATT) coach Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal has seen it firsthand as a number of fighters at the gym have had upcoming fights get postponed or canceled — all of which is affecting them mentally:
“It already started (messing with fighters),” Lawal told MMA Junkie Radio. “Right when it was said cards will be canceled for a while, fighters were wondering, ‘If I’m fighting in June, is that messed up? What about this?’ But June is two months from now. You got people with fights in June wondering if they’re going to be fighting. You have people also on the shelf looking for fights wondering, ‘Will I be on the shelf further, longer?’ So right now, everybody is in limbo.
“Last week, when everything was getting shut down, we had a team meeting last Tuesday or last Wednesday, and said, ‘Things are getting bad. We’re gonna shut the gym down for two weeks, then we’ll have a coaches’ meeting in two more weeks to see what we’re gonna do.’ I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be shut down another two weeks. That’s what I’m thinking. So right now everyone’s stir crazy.”
There are currently over 522,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide with the U.S. having over 74,000 of them at the time of writing.
It is naturally a very serious issue, however, some are ignoring the social distancing and quarantine suggestions while others believe the virus has been made out to be a bigger deal than it actually is. It doesn’t help that UFC fighters like Bryce Mitchell believe it’s a government creation, either.
For all the doubters, Lawal had a simple message:
“First of all, the coronavirus is very real for all ya’ll dumbass Trump supporters,” Lawal added. “Yes, it was real from the get-go. All you dummies posting, ‘Oh, H1N1, this is not that dangerous. We’ll survive like we survived SARS.’
“The COVID-19 virus is a version of SARS – severe acute respiratory symptom. Dummies, it’s real. That’s why Donald Trump went out and declared a state of emergency. It’s real. Y’all be safe, wash your hands.”
What do you make of Lawal’s comments?