UFC On Fox Sports 1: Shogun Vs. Sonnen , the UFC’s first event in Boston since 2010, will go forward as planned after officials worked with authorities to make sure all fighters involved met Massachusetts’ social security number requirement.
In Massachusetts, a fighter must have a valid social security number in order to be licensed to fight. This caused a problem for some of the promotion’s foreign fighter since, generally, only American citizens are given social security numbers. Foreign fighters, however, can apply for one if they have a legitimate visa.
The requirement was in place during UFC 118 on August 28, 2010, but the state’s athletic commission was unaware of the law at the time.
Shogun vs. Sonnen , which marks only the second time a UFC event has been held in Boston , also marks the official launch of a new Fox network. Fox Sports is expected to compete with ESPN for 24-hour sports coverage.
UFC president Dana White, who was forced to cancel UFC 151 after Dan Henderson was injured and champion Jon Jones refused to take another fight, said that while there was the possibility the event wouldn’t be able to proceed, everything worked out in the end .
“You know, when it gets down to the fact, do you want to change the card? You know, do you want to move fights around and switch fights?,” White told the Boston Herald . “When that starts happening, it’s like ‘Yeah, maybe we can’t do the fight here.’ But, you know, we figured it out.”
He added, “We ended up getting everything straightened out. The fights will happen. The card will be great. It’s going to be good. There’s always something. It literally never ends. There’s always something, something that pops up or whatever. We’re pretty used to dealing with this stuff.”
UFC on Fox Sports 1: Shogun vs. Sonnen is scheduled for August 17.
