UFC welterweight Lyman Good (21-5) was going to face Belal Muhammad at UFC 249 on April 18th but while the event was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns, before that Good was scratched after an undisclosed injury.
That “injury” from Good turned out to be the coronavirus. Good actually revealed to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Monday that he is the first known case of an active UFC fighter that tested positive for coronavirus.
“As soon as I found out, I let everybody know,” Good explained.
Good also said that as a UFC fighter, he’s trained to deal with colds and other sicknesses while fighting but he could not overcome COVID-19.
“Man, there was just one day where it was bad,” Good said. “My body wasn’t listening, it wasn’t responding the way it normally does to sparring… so I decided to go get tested and it came back positive.”
Thankfully Good is fully recovered now. He was tested again recently and the results were negative.
Good, the inaugural Bellator welterweight champion, joined the UFC in 2015. Good has alternated wins and losses over his five UFC fights and he is grateful that UFC is still planning events in the near future.
“There’s a lot of negative, a lot fear and a lot of bad circulating around in the world and in the media,” Good explained. “Maybe this would be a good distraction. If any of those people who were criticizing the UFC had the opportunity to make money, you’re going to tell me they’re going to say no? They’re not going to try to make money and bring food to the table?”