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UFC Comes Out Punching for Pandemic-Embattled ESPN
Endeavor’s blood sport embraces virus tests, as Florida steps into the octagon
Paul Felder kicks Mike Perry during their welterweight fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in 2018.
Photographer: Sam Wasson/Getty Images
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On Saturday, May 9, America’s live-sports industry, largely shuttered since March, will lurch back into action with a flurry of kicks to the stomach and punches to the head.
Inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, mixed-martial-arts fighter Sam Alvey, 34, will square off against Ryan Spann, 28, in the opening fight of UFC 249. Each of the night’s 24 scheduled combatants will have been tested ahead of time for the deadly coronavirus, as well as for antibodies.