Florida Man Blames Florida, Man

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People can walk around in public without a face mask and not catch coronavirus, just as people can stroll the streets of Detroit at 2am and not get murdered. That doesn’t make it safe and it really isn’t the kind of thing you should recommend to friends from out of town.

Perhaps if the residents of Florida were better at covering up, then UFC welterweight contender Gilbert Burns would still be competing at UFC 251 this weekend in Abu Dhabi. That’s according to “Durinho,” who blames “The Sunshine State” for his current woes.

“The thing is that Florida opened up, that was the thing,” Burns told ESPN (via Herald-Tribune). “In Florida, people are not wearing masks, people are everywhere walking. So I think that’s how we got it. I just think it’s a Florida thing. We’re not safe anywhere. We have to stay home. I believe the training is going to close … we have to close the gym a second time, wait, and get everyone tested, and then open again. I think it’s not a gym thing, I think it’s a Florida thing, because here it’s all over. The numbers are getting up, and we end up getting caught.”

Burns was promptly pulled from the event, alongside fellow COVID-19 victims Mike Brown and Paul Felder, and will be forced to watch from the sidelines while late-replacement Jorge Masvidal battles Kamaru Usman for the “Nigerian Nightmare’s” 170-pound title.

The Florida Department of Health reported 9,989 new cases on Wednesday along with 48 deaths, bringing the total number of state infections to 223,783. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees blames an increase in infections as opposed to an increase in testing.

Burns is expected to make a full recovery.