UFC Fighter And Gym Owners Protest Lockdown In Brazil

UFC Bantamweight fighter Anderson Dos Santos was part of a large protest in Sao Paulo, Brazil against the decision to leave gyms closed as the country’s lockdown eases in the coming weeks. The protest took place in front of the legislative assembly in Sao Paulo and was done in order to convince the government to change the recent decision to not re-open gyms as the city decides to relieve some measures put in place to prevent the spread of Coronavirus on May 11th.

MMA Fighting reported the news that the UFC fighter with a 20-8 MMA record said that coaches, fighters and MMA promoters from across the city had gotten in contact with one another to arrange the peaceful protest after “many gyms declared bankruptcy“. While Dos Santos doesn’t own a gym himself, he does teach private lessons and without the ability to do so, has obviously seen his income hurt by the lockdown.

“We sell health and sports in the gym, and it’s important that people continue practicing physical activities, and trainers and gym owners can keep their businesses alive,” dos Santos told MMA Fighting.

In fairness, Dos Santos did specify to MMA Fighting that the lockdown protest wasn’t unreasonable and that the attendees know that going back to complete normality isn’t realistic right now: “We know we can’t have a gym with 10, 15, 20 training at the same time at the moment,” he said. “But we can [be flexible] a little bit and have two or three students per class. We know it’s too much to ask for wrestling, MMA, and jiu-jitsu classes for now, because there’s too much physical contact. But boxing classes, muay thai, hitting pads, it’s doable. That’s what we’re asking.”

We were fortunate enough to get an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to be training in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak, click here to find out more.