Gilbert Burns tested positive for COVID-19 and his fight with Kamaru Usman next Saturday at UFC 251 has been canceled. It is not known as of this date whether Usman will fight on the card.
Burns was pulled from the fight after traveling from Florida where he had been training to Las Vegas which the promotion is using as a hub city to send fighters, staff and reporters to Abu Dhabi. The fighters were tested before flying to the Middle East and his was one of the tests that came back positive. In addition, his brother and fellow fighter Herbert Burns and coach Greg Jones tested positive. According to MMA Junkie, Herbert Burns denies testing positive.
In addition to the three, Aung La N Sang also tested positive for COVID-19. Sang, a One Championship fighter, is a teammate of Burns at Sanford MMA.
The news comes on the same day that the Marina Rodriguez-Carla Esparza fight was removed from the UFC July 15th event due to one of Rodriguez’s cornermen testing positive for the coronavirus.
Payout Perspective:
Bad news for Burns and certainly the hope is that him and the team at Sanford MMA recover. The good news is that the testing protocol prevented an unnecessary trip for Burns and his corner which may have infected others on the plane. With the protocol comes positive tests and if the UFC wants to continue holding events it has to pull events to prevent other athletes, corners and staff from being infected. UFC 251 still has a solid card with two championships on the PPV but is without the main event of Usman-Burns.
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