UFC fighters have to train for all the variables and complexities that a MMA contest presents, but those scheduled to compete at the UFC White House card on June 14 might deal with extra hurdles such as rain, lightning, and bugs.
This won’t be the first time a MMA event is held outdoors. Justin Gaethje and Diego Lopes, who will take on Ilia Topuria and Steve Garcia on the White House lawn respectively, have fought outdoors before in their careers — but they didn’t have to deal with climatic issues in those nights.
And that can be a huge problem, even if UFC executive producer Craig Borsari has contingency plans in place for potential weather issues.
Jungle Fight, Brazil’s most popular and historied MMA promotion, held an impromptu outdoor event in Vila Velha. The show was expected to take place in a local gymnasium in February 2010, but plans changed after the weigh-ins.
“It was supposed to be held in the arena, but the weather improved,” Ismail told veteran MMA reporter Marcelo Alonso earlier that day. “And since I’m a warrior and I want to make history, it will be the first MMA event ever held on a beach. Let’s go to war. There are no great victories without great risks. It’s going to be historic.”
Ismail helped his crew carry the structure from the gymnasium to the beach, and fighters were informed they would fight outdoors. Renan Barao, Erick Silva and Rodrigo Damm, who years later would be in the UFC, were some of those featured on the Jungle Fight 17 line-up.
Photo via Marcelo Alonso
According to Alonso, there was “intense” pressure from local politicians to move the event to the beach to make it look cooler on national television.
“The craziest thing about this event wasn’t just the rain,” Alonso said. “Weather websites weren’t as accurate as they are today when it came to timing, but there was a 60 percent chance of rain that night. I remember Magno Malta putting a lot of pressure on everyone because the event was sponsored by the city or the state government, and having it on the beach would be great publicity for them. Wallid knew the risk, especially with the event being broadcast live on TV, but the pressure was intense.”
Fighters didn’t like the idea of fighting under such conditions.
“Erick Silva and I were the ones who got everyone fired up,” said Edson Franca, one of the headliners. “Some fighters didn’t want to compete, but we pushed forward.”
“That day was tense,” Silva added. “I remember the fighters being in the locker room when it started raining, and some of them said they weren’t going to fight in the rain. Wallid came in and talked to everyone. ‘We’re doing this. Let’s go out there and see what happens.’
Marcelo Guimaraes, who also fought in the UFC years later, was first to enter the ring and win his fight. Barao also won a decision in the second bout of the evening, and then rain start to pour on.
“A massive storm hit,” Alonso said. “I had a telephoto lens and managed to position myself farther back, but the TV cameramen got completely soaked.”
“Some fighters wanted to pull out, trying to postpone the event,” said Jorge Rodrigues, a teammate of Renan Barao at the time. “But we came all the way from Natal and cut weight to fight, so we decided to go on and fight.”
Alonso recalls that “it was dangerous as hell” with “the fighters were slipping all over the place”
“They considered canceling the event, but it went ahead and everything worked out,” Damm said. He and his sister, Carina Damm, both came out victorious. “The canvas was a little slippery during the fight, but it was bad for both me and my opponent.”
The main concern was whether the canvas would become too slippery, Silva recalled, but fighters kept competing and coming back to the locker room to report “fine” conditions to their fellow fighters, so “everything worked out in the end.”
The forecast for Sunday in Washington indicates a high chance of rain. The UFC has built a massive structure on the south lawn of the White House in case of rain, so fighters might not have to deal with the same slippery canvas like Franca had for his main event bout with Geronimo dos Santos.
“It was extremely slippery, and it really hurt my jiu-jitsu game,” Franca said. “I would take him down, but he’d slide away and get back to his feet.”
The match ended in the second round after Franca went for a takedown and “Mondragon” slipped into a puddle of water and almost fell out of the ring. Dos Santos tapped out and the result was officially declared a TKO, retirement.
“It was a war,” Franca said. “And that fight was very important for me because ‘Mondragon’ was beating everyone in Brazil at the time. After that, people started believing in me.””
Photo via Marcelo Alonso
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