Cormier Secretly Had Coronavirus Prior To UFC 252

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, secretly had coronavirus prior to his UFC 252 pay-per-view (PPV) title fight last month in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he dropped a five-round unanimous decision to Stipe Miocic.

Not surprisingly, “DC” and his team kept the news under wraps, though it’s unknown if the promotion had knowledge of his condition. Either way, Cormier — who retired after his second defeat to the current champ — is not using it as an excuse for his performance.

“This is not an excuse at all,” Cormier told Yahoo! Sports. “Miocic won the fight and he fought beautifully. This is a thank you almost to Oura for allowing me to get to the fight. I might have just kept pushing and not known I had it. But I was able to take care of myself properly and then get back into training and compete for the heavyweight championship of the world. Without the ring, I don’t think that’s possible.”

Cormier, 41, was wearing some dopey mood ring that tells you when you’re underperforming. The data compelled him to get checked out by a physician, who later revealed a positive test for COVID-19, which likely came from a teammate who previously popped in July.

“The ring didn’t tell me I had COVID,” Cormier continued. “But the ring told me that something wasn’t right, and I used the information to make a decision to go see the doctor. I found out then that I had COVID, but the information I got from the ring allowed me to make the fight.”

If only Gilbert Burns had been wearing one …