UFC Fighter Anderson Dos Santos Partakes In Protests To Reopen Gyms In Brazil

Anderson Dos Santos has competed twice before under the UFC fighter, dropping bouts to the duo of Andre Ewell and Nad Narimani. 

The coronavirus pandemic has caused havoc in Dos Santos’ native country of Brazil, with WorldOMeters reporting that 58,616 people in Brazil being diagnosed with the virus and a total of 4,016 Brazilians have passed due to the coronavirus.

One of the measures the governor of Sao Paulo, which is where Dos Santos resides, took was to close all unessential businesses, which is a group that gyms are a part of. The governor has stated that the business will start being allowed to reopen around May 11, but Dos Santos and others don’t think that it is a quick enough time frame.

Dos Santos has joined other MMA fighters and personalities to protest against the government in an attempt to get the gyms reopened.

“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.

While social distancing and MMA training don’t really go together, one thing Dos Santos knows is that there is still a way to work through that in the gyms.

“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.”

There has been no response yet from the government of Sao Paulo to the protests to get the gyms reopened.