Gadelha, who defeated Angela Hill at the event, reveals that she had a false-positive coronavirus test before competing against Hill.
?Something that happened that I want to bring up in fight night,? Gadelha said while appearing on MMA On Sirius XM (via Anton Tabuena of Bloody Elbow). ?I?m crazy obsessive with nutrition and if you stop to look at it, I was so bloated on fight night. I feel like a lot of that has to do with all the stress that I been through the entire camp. And also when I got to Jacksonville, my first test came back inconclusive so I had to quarantine for the first 24 hours in the room by myself. I couldn?t go to my workout room to cut weight for the first 24 hours and I was like ?oh my god!? I started freaking out. I was up all night thinking I had Corona. The UFC called me and they were like ?Jacare?s test came back in the same way, so we think you have it?. So I was freaking out all night. For the first day, I couldn?t cut weight. I couldn?t leave my room. Anything I needed, they brought to me. They actually moved me to another floor by myself and I couldn?t see anybody. The UFC were bringing me food and water, and they brought a sauna to my room but I couldn?t cut weight on the first day, I need to workout.?
The women?s strawweight contender wound up being cleared and was allowed to compete on fight night, which is the same thing that happened to Ige?s brother in law.
Ige?s brother in law also got a false-positive test result, which caused the fighter to freak out before actually stepping into the Octagon.
?My brother-in-law, I always put him in my corner, the same thing happened to him. He got a false positive,? Ige said. ?He was going to stay with me in my room but they isolated him, got him his own room and then here I am for 24-hours freaking out like ?oh my god, does he have Coronavirus? Do I have Coronavirus?? I was just freaking out, he was freaking out, but same thing (as Gadelha), false positive.?
Another fighter in Ronaldo Souza tested positive for the coronavirus during fight week and his bout against Uriah Hall was pulled from UFC 249.