The UFC did not take out any new insurance to cover injuries that might result from the COVID-19 pandemic, company COO Lawrence Epstein said last week. The UFC produced a pay-per-view event from Jacksonville on Saturday. It has two more planned from the same location later this week.
The UFC already carried two types of insurance for athletes. One is death-and-injury insurance that is required by most athletic commissions. This covers fighters who get injured in the octagon. The second type of insurance covers athletes for any injuries they suffer outside the ring.
“Those policies are already in place, so there hasn’t been any sort of effect or change with respect to COVID-19,” Epstein said. “An interesting question is whether it qualifies as an acute injury or not.”
UFC lawyers have been looking into whether that second type of insurance would cover a fighter who caught COVID-19, Epstein said.
The UFC hopes it has a system in place that would identify fighters with COVID-19 before they arrived in Jacksonville. UFC had each fighter fill out an extensive questionnaire about where they’ve traveled, who they’ve contacted and whether they’ve felt sick.
UFC followed the questionnaire with testing, both before and after the fighters arrived in Jacksonville. Quest Diagnostics administers the tests.
“That’s really the key — to make sure before somebody enters, we’ve done enough testing to give us an idea,” Epstein said. “There’s a variety of checkpoints before they get to Jacksonville, all the way to the event, and even after the event.
