Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Burns and everyone else on the card for the UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas on Saturday will have to go through stricter coronavirus testing procedures than the guidelines used for the UFC events in Florida earlier this month.
ESPN obtained a memo sent from the promotion to the fighters that details the new policy, which will require two COVID-19 antigen oropharyngeal swab tests before the fight.
The first test will occur upon check-in at the athlete hotel in Las Vegas, and fighters must remain in their hotel rooms until they receive their results.
"This means you should not leave the Athlete Hotel or have physical contact with anyone other than the members of your camp until you have received your test result," the memo reads, per ESPN. If the test is negative, fighters "may continue with fight week activities. ... If your result is positive, you should remain in your hotel room and await further instructions from UFC's medical team."
The second test will occur after Friday's weigh-in, and again, fighters will have to isolate themselves in their hotel rooms, this time overnight, while awaiting the results.
"During this time, no athletes or cornermen will be permitted to leave the Athlete Hotel without express prior approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission," the memo reads. "You also should not have physical contact with anyone other than the members of your camp."
All fighters and cornermen are being asked to sign a HIPAA authorization form so the testing lab can share results with the UFC.
As ESPN notes, the UFC events on May 13 and 16 required fighters to take just one swab test each. UFC 249 on May 9 ended up requiring two swab tests because of a timing issue with the results of the first set of tests. Two people, Ronaldo Souza and one of his cornermen, tested positive ahead of UFC 249 and were removed from the event.
Saturday's UFC Fight Night will be headlined by Woodley vs. Burns and will take place at the UFC's Apex arena in its Las Vegas headquarters. Courtesy of ESPN, below is the complete card for the event:
- Featherweight: Chris Gutierrez vs. Vince Morales
- Bantamweight: Louis Smolka vs. Casey Kenney
- Flyweight: Tim Elliott vs. Brandon Royval
- Light Heavyweight: Jamahal Hill vs. Klidson Abreu
- Catchweight (150 pounds): Billy Quarantillo vs. Spike Carlyle
- Flyweight: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Antonina Shevchenko
- Strawweight: Mackenzie Dern vs. Hannah Cifers
- Lightweight: Brok Weaver vs. Roosevelt Roberts
- Welterweight: Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Heavyweight: Blagoy Ivanov vs. Augusto Sakai
- Welterweight: Tyron Woodley vs. Gilbert Burns