For coach Mark Henry, you could say that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MMA has been positive.
Henry, who will be in former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar’s corner Saturday against Pedro Munhoz in the UFC at the ESPN 15 main event, actually avoids fights that take place in an empty UFC Apex.
Known for truncating his fighters through code-based language, Henry explains that, with no fans in the stands, the rest helps him communicate better with his fighters.
“I love the MMA situation where we’re dealing now where there are no fans,” Henry told MMA Junkie. “We’re 4-0 in COVID, so I almost had conversations with our fighters, like I talk to Cody (Garbrandt) and Sijara (Eubanks) and Claudia (Gadelha) and Katlyn (Chookagian). They talk to me back in the octagon. ”
He went on to say, “Even the fight of Sijara, she’s like a mid-conversation with me, and it’s great that I’m able to expand on what I said. So let’s say I go head, body, head and that the code for it is ‘pizza’ and a left heel is a ‘slice’. I could say go pizza and go hard on the slice, and I can expand. Right just to the right hand could be ‘straw’ and go hard “You have to expand, because you could hear things so clearly that you could expand on what you say there, and everything with us is code-based, so it’s been great.”
Since the pandemic hit, Henry Eubanks, Garbrandt, Gadelha and Chookagian have all come to victory and he will look to capitalize on the situation with Edgar, who is making his debut at bantamweight.
‘Nobody knows what I’m crazy about, so it’s been great for us with this quiet arena,’ said Henry, ‘and I’m really looking forward to it with Frankie, because I’ve been with him for 15 years, so it’s has been great for us, and thank God that everything has worked out for us that way. ”
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