Daniel Cormier doesn’t want to take anything away from Stipe Miocic’s winning performance at UFC 252. But recently the storied fighter reported he tested positive for COVID-19, several weeks out from his third bout with the heavyweight champ.

Cormier credits Oura Ring for seeking additional testing

The former light heavyweight and heavyweight champ faced Miocic in their rubber match on August 15th, and Cormier lost the fight via decision. Since then, the 41-year-old legend has confirmed he’s hanging up the gloves.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Cormier reported that he tested positive for COVID-19 not long into July. Approximately six weeks out from the fight, Cormier was told that a teammate had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Cormier was tested, and the results were negative. But, not long after Cormier said he started to feel off and the Oura Ring, which is a smart ring that tracks certain health metrics, indicated something was wrong.

In the aforementioned story, Cormier relayed the following.

“…I think everyone should be wearing one (Qura Ring). It’s that good.”

“But over the weekend, I started feeling a little sick,” Cormier said. “Things weren’t exactly … well, let me put it this way: I wasn’t sick, but I got a little tired and peaked.

Monday comes, I go to practice and I spar and I worked out three times.

I felt OK, but I was a little bit tired is, I guess, how I would put it. Now, let me go back for a second: The Wednesday prior, my readiness score was at 78, 79.

The readiness score is what tells you how you are supposed to approach the day. When it’s low, it’s telling you to take a step back.

“I’ve been using it for months now because my body needs to know if I’m going in the right direction. … On Monday night, Tuesday morning, I wasn’t feeling so good.

My resting heart rate had been 50 beats a minute. Now it was at 57. My body temperature had changed.”

“The ring didn’t tell me I had COVID,” Cormier said. “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.”

Cormier also credited Miocic for his winning performance at UFC 252, and he wanted to stress he isn’t making excuses for the loss.

“This is not an excuse at all. 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.”

Interesting development

So, this is interesting news, as you do have to wonder what might have happened if Cormier hadn’t gone for a follow-up test. 

While Cormier also said he was ready to go on August 15th, some will wonder how his camp being impacted by the virus, may have affected his performance, fight night. 

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