UFC featherweight TJ Laramie, based in Windsor, Ontario, faced a $6,200 fine for delayed PCR results during COVID travel despite proof of testing, while training in the U.S. at Extreme Couture and 10th Planet. He criticized Canada’s inconsistent gym policies, excluding MMA despite exemptions for Olympic sports, and questioned border testing delays, calling them "ridiculous." Laramie, who openly shares right-wing views, highlighted political divisions among fighters like Tyron Woodley (BLM) and Colby Covington (Trump-aligned), suggesting the UFC’s fight resumption during lockdowns reflected conservative leanings. His frustration underscores broader tensions between public health measures and professional athletes’ livelihoods, revealing how arbitrary restrictions can clash with global sports realities. [Automatically generated summary]
TJ Laramie is a UFC featherweight from Windsor, Ontario, who vaulted his way into the UFC through the Dana White contender series.
And he has been outspoken about sweeping lockdowns, travel restrictions, and the treatment certain professional athletes are receiving from the government compared to others.
TJ, how are you doing, man?
It's been a while since we spoke.
Thanks for coming in today.
Can't speak.
I'm good, man.
You know, I'm happy to be here.
Happy to be in the situation I am right now with you guys and everything that's been going on with COVID and the things I've had to deal with so far, you know?
Yeah, for those of you you're going to see coming up that TJ is actually one of our new fight the fines recipients.
He got a crazy fine and we'll talk about that later on the show.
But the first thing I want to talk to you about is we had an interview a few months ago about the travel and the restrictions you've been dealing with, having to train in secret.
Gyms still aren't open.
I think it's the last place in North America where you can't train anything indoors.
I've become the beast and monster you see before you without the gym being open.
I was once in shape, you guys.
Tell me how it's been having to travel back and forth for your training.
So really, I've been doing majority of my training in the U.S. because Ontario's been closed for months and it's too wishy-washy, right?
So it's always like, oh, we'll open.
Oh, no, we're shut down.
Or it's like, oh, we're open, but only a certain amount of people allowed in a gym, which is quite ridiculous.
But luckily, from what I'm noticing now in this last lockdown, is most gyms are kind of just whatever.
You know what I mean?
They're kind of just doing whatever.
And they're finding little loopholes away around the restrictions.
So, I mean, that's great, but I mean, it's still not ideal for me.
I'd rather just go in Vegas where I can get all the training I want, all the training partners, where I don't have to worry about somebody knocking on the door with a badge and trying to hand out fines to everybody.
Now, are you training at the UFC facility?
You got the training camp down there, or how's it going down there?
So, the three main places I train at, or two I would say, is Extreme Couture, 10th Planet, Las Vegas, and then I also do some stuff at the UFC PI.
Yeah, a lot of fancy stuff in the UFC Performance Institute there.
Has it been harder to travel to Canada than you expected?
I mean, you mentioned it's not worth it to go back and forth and do all this stuff, but did you really predict that it was going to be this bad, especially considering all the exemptions that are handed out for almost everything?
But you can't come back into the country like pre-approved or anything like that.
Has it been as bad as you thought it would be?
I mean, honestly, it's pretty ridiculous, especially somebody like me who has a visa to work in the U.S. You know what I mean?
So, and given the restrictions that are put in place here in Ontario and in Canada in general, for them to not exempt me to at least travel back and forth every day to Detroit or Michigan.
So that way I can work and do like I have a construction company in Windsor as well as I cut hair.
I'm a barber.
So to not like, it's either one or the other at this point.
Either I'm going to train full time or I have to come home and work and make money because the way the government's put it is I can't get the ideal training here at home and work and make money.
You know what I mean?
Because the UFC is only a couple fights a year, two or three fights max, you know?
And that's only a lump sum of money every so often, right?
So I need to work.
I need to make money.
I need to keep my company going.
So the fact that I don't have the exemption to cross back and forth every day to get what I need or to even come from home from Vegas so I could stay for a week or two and then fly back without getting a huge fine or disciplined in some way.
It's crazy.
You got to jump through hoops to just get back home.
There's a decent amount of UFC fighters off the top of my head.
There's yourself, Charles Jourdain, Tanner Bozer.
Has any commission or anybody, any association or governing body offered you guys help being like, here's a place where all the, it might only be one location, but here's a place where all the Canadian fighters can train, maybe in Ontario or one for each coast.
Has anybody offered you guys any help or assistance with this at all?
No, not that I know of personally.
Like I haven't been offered anything.
I mean, there are, like I said, there are some gyms trying to find loopholes as far as so amateur, like high-level amateur sports or Olympic sports, which obviously MMA is not an Olympic sport.
Jiu-Jitsu is not an Olympic sport, but luckily wrestling and boxing is an Olympic sport.
So I mean, if you're signed up with an association that goes with that and you're training for the Olympic trials, you know, there's been loopholes that way.
But even then, you know, they're still trying to crack down on gyms that are trying to, you know, I guess in their eyes, abuse the exemption.
Yeah, there is one gym that I try to convince to open based on that exemption for professional athlete training, which would be boxing.
But they didn't want to do it.
A lot of the places I get these emails from Good Life Fitness people send them.
And they're saying, please talk to your government, tell them to open up the gyms.
And it's like, Good Life, why don't you do something?
You have 70,000 locations across the world.
Hundreds of millions.
Exactly.
Hundreds of millions of dollars.
Why don't you actually get it to open up?
Do fighters from other countries or any of the other regions talk about any of their shared experiences through the travel and the training about this with you?
Well, for me personally, I know I'm not the first person who's gotten a fine.
I know, unfortunately, some people who have had to go and do the hotels.
I know Israel Adesanya, being from New Zealand, he actually does 14 days in a hotel.
That's how they do it over there, which is, I mean, this is the UFC champ we're talking about.
You know what I mean?
So they have that much authority over a guy.
And it's like, how many negative tests do you need to show?
It's like, do the tests not work?
You know, that's my thought, right?
It's like, if I present you a negative test, you don't trust the test enough for me to go home or at least quarantine at home, not be in a hotel.
Like, we're talking about this is this guy's livelihood.
This is his job.
This is my job.
This is my livelihood.
And you expect me to stay in a hotel where I have no access to training facilities or the ability to go outside for a run at that, you know?
New Zealand is governed by a communist leader.
However, the lady who's the prime minister used to be part of the socialist group.
Now, I know Fight Island had its own thing and then Vegas, while it was still closed, of course, they were doing the fights there in the Performance Institute or the Apex Center, whichever one has the actual octagon, the smaller one.
What is the protocol like for there?
Or what do they have in place for fighters still fighting in the United States?
So what they are currently still doing, they still do the COVID tests.
I mean, they're obviously lenient with the masks.
I don't believe people have to wear masks as much anymore.
Maybe the coaches and corners, but the fighters don't.
Before around the facility, you'd have to wear a mask, right?
So as a fighter.
So, I mean, it's not ideal.
The biggest thing for me was fighting without a crowd is it's a terrible experience, especially when you're supposed to be at the pinnacle of the sport.
I mean, obviously, I'm grateful of the opportunity.
I actually got to earn a spot in the UFC during COVID with no crowds.
So, I mean, I'm grateful for the opportunity, of course.
But, I mean, at the end of the day, this is the UFC.
This is the pinnacle, right?
I fought in crowds larger in Windsor, you know, or in Ontario or in some little gym in Detroit.
You know, I fought in front of more people there than I did at the pinnacle of MMA and the sport, right?
So I feel like athletes aren't really getting their fair shake, especially, you know, it's just, it's an unfortunate situation.
I mean, they're a lot more lax, especially when they go out out of state, when they're not at the apex.
They pretty much get to interact with fans again and all of that.
So I'm excited for my next bout because I truly believe I'll be able to, there's going to be a crowd there.
I think they're doing a couple more events at the Apex and then it's done.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, they're sort of going back from east to west.
They started in Florida, then Texas, then Arizona, and now they're back in Vegas for this weekend.
The Connor McGregor fight was in Vegas, you guys.
It was in the arena there.
So I wanted to ask you about the environment, just a little bit of politics.
This is supposed to be a political show.
Yeah.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with Vlad Kazbekov.
He's one of the translators.
He's also a fighter in the lower leagues right now.
And he's mentioned to me that the UFC and sort of the, and you can see this reflected in the MMA community, it's sort of reversed.
Whereas if you work in an office in downtown Toronto or Los Angeles, you're surrounded with extremely liberal people, for better or for worse.
He has explained it that in the UFC environment and working with the teams there, it's pretty much reversed where most people have, you know, they're not pro lockdowns.
They're a little bit more conservative.
Maybe they like the country they came from.
Have you experienced any of that?
I mean, absolutely.
You know, I think deep down inside, nobody in that in that realm supports like what they have to do.
It's more like what they to make the government happy, right?
So, and at the end of the day, I mean, it's things that people, you know, make fans happy at the end of the day too, right?
So if they do abide by any of these rules, it's less of a personal decision and more of a, you know what I mean, political, like a political decision a little bit.
I mean, for the most part, when you talk to them and their personal views, they agree with what I agree with, what Vlad agrees with, and what most of, you know, people with the brain agree with.
So, I mean, yeah, it is good to work for a company like that with like-minded individuals.
And I mean, the whole, the only reason they were able to run fights or the reason they were basically the only sport at the time doing any events was because of that mindset.
And this was at the peak of the pandemic when people were afraid to even go to the grocery store.
Yeah, and Dana Way really, he even encouraged people to vote out the people who were putting them through the harsh lockdowns.
Two extremes of the spectrum, I would say, would be Tyron Woodley, who's wearing, saying Black Lives Matter every Answer.
And then, of course, Colby Covington, who's wearing MAGA hats in the octagon and hanging out with the Trumps.
Has anyone tried to encourage you to, you know, make a statement using your name or using the UFC platform, maybe before or after a flight?
Has anybody been like, TJ, we need you to speak out.
Why won't you talk more about this?
I mean, not using my UFC platform as much.
And not until recently, not at actual UFC event or UFC media yet, but I've been reached out to by local Windsor, someone who is running for member of parliament through the PPC actually there is reached out to me and wants to get me out speaking at some of these events that she plans on hosting.
I think you didn't mention the name, but you narrowed it down pretty much there for that person.
So you wouldn't be against it then?
No, absolutely not.
I mean, I don't have a problem expressing my views when it comes to things.
Obviously, you look at my Twitter, my Facebook, and stuff like that.
You know, I feel like even if there's probably some things I lean, whatever people might want to call left on some things, majority of the stuff is more right-wing viewed in the big picture.
But I mean, I'm not afraid to say it.
I don't feel like I'm saying anything wrong.
It's just my opinion.
It's how I feel.
And I don't think anybody should feel wrong with that.
You know, I accept people for what they believe, whether I think it's right or wrong.
I mean, it's an opinion at the end of the day, as long as you show that same energy back towards me.
You know, you're respectful for me.
I'm respectful to you.
Does the UFC PR team ever give anybody talks about anything?
Or is it just general what to do?
Do they ever tell?
Does anybody ever get in trouble?
I mean, I've personally never seen it, but it's funny you mentioned that Kobe Covington and Tyron Woodley, because I fought on the card that he wore the BLM shirt at the conference and when he was fighting Covington and actually in the back after Wayans, it was Donald Strone.
He was just trashing BLM pretty much.
Yeah, and this was in front of everybody, you know what I mean?
But hey, at the end of the day, if that's what he believes, he's entitled to that opinion.
And if that's what Woodley wants to preach, he has to, you know what I mean, be prepared for people to also talk back like that, you know, as well.
And Tyron Woodley was there when he was.
Yeah, I tend to not really believe Tyron Woodley believed in a lot of that stuff.
He tends to, you know, use it as a, use him being, you know, overlooked or overshadowed as a way to get more attention, come fight time.
I'd have more of a problem with somebody, and I'm willing to name Angela Hill as somebody who really is, I'm oppressed, feel sorry for me, and I don't really, I don't really enjoy that.
Results Coming Back Late00:07:02
I want to talk to you now about the fine you got coming back.
Can you tell people a little bit more what happened, why you were coming back to Canada, even though it's been this headache and you got a fine trying to come over the border, right?
Yeah.
So coming back, obviously, from what I know, and just to avoid the whole airport, the hotel quarantine, them trying to throw me in a bus and drive me to a hotel to avoid that whole thing, you know, I flew back, and it's much closer to my house anyways.
I flew into Detroit and taxied over to Windsor.
And so basically you need the 72 out, a PCR test within 72 hours upon your arrival to Canada.
So I had that done.
I got the test done traveling across back to Canada, but the results were not in time.
And ironically enough, they ended up coming two or three hours after I got the fine.
So it doesn't really matter.
But getting across the border, we tell the agent he's about to let us through.
He's like, oh, but do you guys have the PCR test?
We're like, oh, you know, we got it done, but we just don't have the results.
I can show you the appointment schedule when I scheduled the appointment when I went and got the test and the confirmation that I got the test done and is awaiting results.
And basically said, man, I'm going to try my best.
You know, the CBSA agent was amazing.
He tried his best.
But at the end of the day, it came down to dealing with the health officer and she was not as lenient.
Obviously, I mean, I'm sure she has a job to do whether she believes in it or not.
I mean, I don't know what control they have or what power they have to let things slide.
So I don't want to speak out on that too much.
But basically, she gave us the option to go back to Detroit.
So spend more money on the cab, go spend 200 or 250 U.S. on a rapid test, rapid PCR test, and then come back and then show the results and then go.
I was like, no, not really.
No, I'd rather just go home.
Like just write me the fine.
It's okay.
Because I knew there was the option of the fight the fines that Rebel News, you guys provide.
So I was kind of leaning on that and leaning on the fact that I know a couple of people that have gotten quarantine act tickets and it hasn't really, like they haven't really gone through or they haven't even gone into the system.
So I kept trying to just press that.
And she's like, oh, you know, it's going to be trying to stress the dollar figure.
Oh, it's going to be $6,000.
going to be 6,200.
I'm like, yeah, you know, it's good.
I had to repeat myself a bunch of times because honestly, I felt like she was just trying to save herself some paperwork, essentially.
And then we wait in the cab for an hour finally and she comes back with a ticket.
And then I finally get to go home.
And then they're trying to get me to do these tests at home while I'm quarantining at home.
And I mean, this is this is what kills me the most is that it's supposed to be this serious, you know, pandemic.
It's a health risk.
I didn't have one person check on me the whole time.
I didn't have one phone call to ask if I have any symptoms.
I did the test, but it's like, man, you know what I mean?
It makes no sense to me.
And even if my test would have came back positive, the original one, while crossing the border, I still would have had to quarantine at home.
So, I mean, you're just the only time the government really cared was when it came down to writing me a ticket and making me spend money, you know?
So, I mean, if it really was about public health, they would have checked in on me.
They would have made sure I was quarantining or they would have at least called me and asked if I was having any symptoms.
But I mean, it's pretty unprofessional on their end, if you ask me.
When I had to quarantine for 14 days, they called twice.
This is a year ago, coming back from a Trump rally.
First call was a human.
Second call was a week later was a robocall.
Sounds like to me they just have given up on that.
It's too much effort.
But I wanted to ask you, and I'm going somewhere with this, how long did you spend at the border waiting there?
I'd say a total of two hours because it was about an hour of convincing me to try to go back to Detroit and do it.
I was like, you know what?
Maybe I'll wait a couple of minutes.
Maybe this test will come through because it was about 48 hours since I've gotten the test done.
And then I called the lab.
I called the lab as soon as they opened and they said, yeah, sorry, we don't have your test results on this.
I'm like, okay, just write me the ticket then, please.
Like, I just want to go home.
I've been traveling a long time.
At that point, I had a lot of layovers.
And then, yeah, so I would say about two, two and a half hours at the border waiting.
Now, the reason I asked that, because I think it's really weird that instead of we've spent billions upon billions of dollars on all this, instead of spending the extra money to get rapid tests, I mean, we know they exist.
We know that there's rapid saliva tests.
There's other tests that will get you the results in a couple hours, if not immediately.
But Canada won't seem to spend the money on that.
We require people to use a worse test.
Now, you can go to Florida, for example, and get a much better test.
And it's still not valid here because it's not the same test.
I guess they only have a certain system in place to check it.
But isn't it weird that instead of just testing a person at the border, which may take, let's say, give them the benefit of the doubt and say upwards of 30 minutes, they're willing to keep you there for two hours.
I mean, isn't this strange to people?
Yeah.
I guess what I'm getting at is why aren't the people at the border and the health can agents more questioning of this?
And I pose the same question to like police and medical professionals at the same time.
How long does Have to go on until people start questioning like the logic behind all this.
Oh, I mean, like, that's the thing.
And I feel like the population pretty much is coming to the conclusion, you know, they're kind of getting fed up with it and they're kind of seeing that, oh, okay, they're just running around in circles here.
There's no really end game to this, they don't have a solution because now, obviously, as soon as we reach these stage three goalposts, they're coming out with Delta variant, they're coming out with Lambda variant.
Now, oh, I haven't heard that.
Yeah, that's a new one in the last day or two.
It's a Lambda variant.
So, for the first time in a long time, I actually watched like TV news the other night and I couldn't believe like it's no wonder that the older generation, the people who don't really go on the internet as much, are like surely convinced that this thing is an issue, you know.
And I tell everyone I see now, I'm like, go to the U.S., any open state for just 48 hours, and you tell me if you think there's a pandemic going on.
And the reality is people would be genuinely scared.
People would be hiding in their homes, people would have personal experiences, but like less than 3% of all of Ontario has even caught in COVID, let alone had any serious effects from it.
You know what I mean?
So it's like for people for the whole population to be scared, it's all, oh, I heard this, I heard that.
This is what they said.
Okay, what have you experienced?
And you know what I mean?
Less Than 3% Caught COVID00:01:35
It must be a miracle that I'm alive at this point, seeing as I've had no mask in Vegas.
You know, I barely wear a mask.
I see friends.
I see family.
Nobody in my family has even caught in COVID, let alone had anything serious from it.
And I know my experiences and everybody else's, but for somebody who's traveled as much as me, I could have at least came down with a cough at some point.
This one, I don't think, is going on YouTube producer Justin.
I don't know.
We've gone so far down the banned topics list.
TJ, I thank you for joining me today.
You guys are going to see a video, a fight the fines video with TJ coming up.
Always good to talk to you, man.
Thanks for calling in studio.
I hope the fight is.
Oh my God, we just touched.
I hope the fight is booked soon.
Me too.
And we want to see you back in front of fans.
And it's not that you're not fighting that old guy anymore, are you?
No.
Or was he even old?
I don't know.
I don't think he was that old.
I think he's like 32 or 33, but his hairline was a lot older.
His hairline was about 50 or 60, you know.
All right.
Anything else you want to say to the audience before we let you go?
Man, I just want to thank Rebel News and Fight the Fines for dealing with my situation and really helping me out here and give me the confidence to actually be able to come back to my own house and my own home, you know, and getting the fine rather than traveling back, you know, and spending a lot more money than I had to.
All right, TJ Laramie, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
And of course, you'll see him on the UFC website if you go there, watch his highlights.
From TKO, we will go all the way back to your championship there.