It has been almost four years since the last time Roger Gracie competed in a professional MMA fight, but that doesn?t mean he hasn?t been partaking in battles of a different kind.
The member of the legendary Gracie Family recently revealed that he had the coronavirus, which left the fighter bedridden for nearly two weeks.
?I got the virus, but I recovered two weeks ago. I was in very bad shape, in bedridden. It?s good to talk about it, because most people don?t know what it is like, they think they won?t be affected, that it won?t get to them,? he said to Combate. ?I was bedridden for 10 days, with a fever of 104 degrees and coughing. I had shortness of breath one day, but that didn?t escalate, I?m glad. I woke up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding fast, I couldn?t breathe. I called an ambulance, I actually got on. They ran the tests, called the head of medicine, and they thought it would be better if I stayed home.?
Gracie is now fully recovered from the coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of 121,846 people according to WorldOMeters.
One thing that Gracie also revealed to Combate is that his girlfriend was also diagnosed with the coronavirus and her temperature was over 100 degrees for about four days.
?I got scared when it didn?t get better. I got worried by day eight, because I thought I was getting better, my fever went down. The next day, it came back violently, I felt weak, weird. Every person feels it differently. My girlfriend got it, too, she had a fever of 102, 100 degrees for four days. She was weak, her body was aching, then it passed. My fever got up to 104. I coughed all the time. The fever is what destroys you, it gets pretty high,? says Gracie.
A now retired Gracie exited MMA with a record of 8-2-0, with notable victories coming over Ron Waterman, Kevin Randleman, Keith Jardine, Anthony Smith and James McSweeney.