WATCH: UFC 249 Fan-less Environment Gives Precious Insight Into Fighter’s Corner-Talk

The UFC has made a lot of changes to make sure that their events are safe and well within the health guidelines.

Since the outbreak of the global pandemic COVID-19, the sporting world has been put on pause. Fans haven’t seen live sports since almost 2 entire months, as events have faced a lot of postponements and even some cancelations.

Finally, we saw a glimpse of live sports this month. May 9 saw the return of the UFC. For the first time since the start of March, there were fighters within the Octagon. But it wasn’t the same experience, and won’t be for a very long time.

UFC 249 saw a lot of changes that were put in place to help curb the spread of the virus. The event took place without the presence of a live audience. This was probably the first time in the promotion’s history that an event was carried out without any spectators.

The new in-ring experience of the UFC

No spectators mean no background noise or loud cheering crowds. This actually made a significant amount of difference for both the fighters and the fans watching at home. The fighters were also very vocal of how fighting in an empty stadium felt surreal.

Even for us fans watching at home, the experience wasn’t as it usually is. We could hear almost everything that was happening within the Octagon. Everyone watching had an insider’s experience.

We could clearly hear the thumps on the Octagon mattress, the fighter’s interaction in between rounds, and also hear everything that happened in the fighter’s corner.

We could literally hear the personal coaches hype up, give perspective, and motivate their fighters at the end of every round. A video on Twitter shows us what this exactly looked like.

What do you think? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage?