Troy Worthen: Business as Usual in the Face of Concern

Florida native Troy Worthen will take part in an unusual scenario on Feb. 28 at One Championship: King of the Jungle. On that night, he and his contemporaries will compete in front of a global audience on television, while surrounded by a nearly empty 12,000 seat Sinapore Indoor Stadium. The arena will be sans fans and media as a safety precaution as coronavirus concerns grow in Singapore. While Worthen admits fears inside the country are limited, he has had to recently quell the concerns of friends and family back home in the United States.

“I do think it’s been over blown a little bit,” Worthen told Sherdog, “I think the media takes stuff and runs with it. They act like it’s a zombie apocalypse out here. I just finished a run out doors. People aren’t hiding away [and] it’s not some crazy thing that’s going on. As long as you practice good hygiene; wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, don’t touch dirty things, then you should be fine. The gym’s full every day. The first week or so, people from the states were calling, asking about it and there was a little concern, but I just told them it’s business as usual for me. It’s not really a big deal.”

In this conversation, the 26-year-old spoke on the change to the event, facing Mark Abelardo and combating the 25-fight veteran’s experience advantage. He then talked about living in Singapore for the last six months, and if he could see himself living there well after his career is over. He also touched on his training at Evolve MMA and his interests away from fighting.