Weathering the Outdoors

Years and years ago, the lower-watt King of the Cage promotion decided to hold an event outside and adjacent to the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, Calif. It rained torrentially, and several fighters got knocked on their ass for reasons other than offense.

Saturday, the UFC will be hosting its first outdoors event in Abu Dhabi. (We’ll forget about that one ‘90s show in a tent in some parking lot somewhere; I have, anyway.) The forecast, as bloggers have so helpfully pointed out, mentions the possibility of rain. While I’m totally for a little variety in the monotony of indoor events, and a little precipitation makes for a more dramatic “Matrix” fight sequence, there should probably be a Plan B in place. A tarp. A retractable roof. Something.

According to Dana White, there is not. "Wind could be a factor. It's very dusty and sandy there,” he told Canada’s SportsNet. “I'm worried about the wind."

If the worst happens and a vicious, Tattooine-esque sandstorm envelops B.J. Penn and co., it would mark the first time in seventeen years the UFC has ever had to cancel an event on the day of. (Closest call: a show politically booted out of Niagara Falls, NY in 1997 that was relocated to Alabama on 24 hours’ notice.) But if a little sand didn’t bother Rickson Gracie, it shouldn’t bother anyone else.