‘This is not over’: UFC ring legend Buffer urges people to take vaccines, claims ‘armor’ of jab saved him from hospitalization

Iconic UFC announcer Bruce Buffer has revealed he took a cocktail of antibodies but ignored a drug made famous by commentator Joe Rogan when he caught Covid, urging his many fans to "play it safe" by becoming jabbed.

Frustrated Buffer was sidelined from his first numbered UFC blockbuster in 25 years on Saturday, missing his hyping duties for UFC 267 after contracting Covid.

Despite taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, veteran Buffer has admitted that he fears a repeat of his lung ordeal if he joins those who have caught the virus more than once.

“I started feeling it in my lungs and I started coughing and coughing up stuff, like, ‘Oh man, is this going to go where I think it’s going to go?’” the 64-year-old told the MMA Hour, reflecting on his absence from the card in Abu-Dhabi.

“That’s one of the biggest fright factors I had. All I can tell everybody is that this is not over. If I get it, anybody can get it.

"You hear of people coming down [with it], [singer] Bon Jovi, on and on and on. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a celebrity — I’m not particularly a fan of that word, we’re people, we’re all equal in my mind — so anybody can get it.

"So just play it safe. And it’s no joke. That’s all I can tell you. I’m in really good shape. You know that. I take care of myself. I eat right, I train right, I’ve been an athlete my entire life."

Vaccines have become a huge topic of contention among athletes and fans, with former Bellator MMA champion and UFC newcomer Michael Chandler perhaps the most high-profile fighter in the promotion to voice reservations.

Chandler, who will face Justin Gaethje when Buffer returns to duties at UFC 268 in New York on Saturday, denied he was an anti-vaxxer but explained that he had not taken the treatment.

The lightweight said his reasons were partly to do with "our individual liberties and our individual choices, especially when it comes to our bodies and our medical history and our health."

In information released in September, Johnson & Johnson described its vaccine as having a "consistent safety profile", being "generally well-tolerated" and providing 94% protection when administered as a booster shot two months after initial treatment.

Buffer said he was helped by an antibody mixture produced by Regeneron and vitamins and minerals, although he shunned Ivermectin, which podcast sensation and UFC host Rogan controversially advocated for, because of advice he received from doctors.

"I don’t know what this would’ve been had I not had the [vaccine]," he said. “The vaccine is not armor to avoid getting it but it’s armor to avoid going into the hospital.

“My gardener died from [Covid]. I have six degrees of separation from at least a half-dozen people who have died from it, numerous people in respirators in the hospital.

"It’s no joke. That’s all I can tell you. I haven’t had the flu since my 20s, so it was like the worst flu you could have.

"The body aches, the headaches, all that goes with it. And then I think a lot of people probably suffer a little PTSD afterwards.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, yes, I’m clean. But is it OK to go around somebody?’ Now it’s like the fear of getting it again, because I know people who are getting it twice.”