Gilbert Burns, who has been removed from this weekends main event for UFC 251 due to testing positive for COVID-19, explains how he had to drive 45-hours straight back home to Florida from Las Vegas.
Burns, along with his three coaches, Greg Jones, Kami Barzini, and Vagner Rocha, all tested positive for the virus. As a result of this, Burns and his team were not allowed to fly home. Luckily for them, the UFC was able to get them a car which allowed them to eventually get home over the span of a nearly two day car ride.
Burns told ESPN’s Brett Okomoto the story of how it all went down.
“We just hopped in the car, the ‘corona car.’ Me, Vagner Rocha, Greg Jones, Kami Barzini, and we (came) back to Florida. I’m at home now, quarantining here, and waiting,” Burns told ESPN.
“The UFC gave us a car because we couldn’t get on a plane, we’d get exposed to a lot of people so they said, ‘you guys could not fly back.’ But then we said, ‘but can we drive?’ And UFC said, ‘yeah you guys can drive.’ They gave us a car, we got a Ford Explorer, and that was the ‘corona mobile’ coming back,” Burns said. “We got back in I think it was 45-hours or something like that. We made a couple stops just to get food and everyone was driving. We made it back yesterday (Sunday) morning. We left Vegas on Friday around 2-3 P.M., and then we got here Sunday morning.”
Despite having the Coronavirus, Burns seems to be healthy and in good spirits. He doesn’t seem to be effected physically at all in any way, and we hope he has a quick recovery.
Since Burns fallout, Jorge Masvidal has stepped in on six days notice. He will now face welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman, in an attempt to save the main event for UFC 251.
