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Rose Namajunas may not have contracted COVID-19, but the novel coronavirus is directly responsible for her withdrawal from UFC 249.

Rose Namajunas has withdrawn from competing at UFC 249 after two of her relatives died as a result of COVID-19.

The never-ending twists-and-turns of UFC 249 threw yet another curveball when it was announced Namajunas would no longer compete against Jessica Andrade at UFC 249 on Saturday, April 18.

At the time of the report, Namajunas’ withdrawal was for “undisclosed reasons.” On Thursday, Namajunas’ manager, Brian Butler-Au, revealed the tragic cause of the former champion’s removal.

“Rose Namajunas withdrew from UFC 249 due to two deaths in the family related to the coronavirus,” Butler-Au wrote. “Her hopes are to return to the Octagon as soon as possible but for now we ask for people to respect their privacy during this time.”

Those two deaths add to a global tally of nearly 100,000 confirmed deaths as total COVID-19 cases surpass 1.5 million, with more than 15,000 deaths and more than 450,000 positive cases just in the United States alone.

Namajunas has not fought since losing her strawweight title to Andrade last year. As for Andrade, a replacement is being sought but there’s no guarantee that she’ll remain on the card, which is reportedly set for Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, CA.

Our thoughts are with Namajunas and her family during these troubling times.

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas, recently withdrew from the UFC 249 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event on April 18, where she was scheduled to rematch fellow ex-titleholder, Jessica Andrade.

And because this is mixed martial arts (MMA) and most fans are generally awful, “Thug Rose” was accused of being scared or perhaps mentally unfit to compete. There was also speculation that coronavirus had Namajunas hiding at home.

Not quite.

“Rose Namajunas withdrew from UFC 249 due to two deaths in the family related to the coronavirus,” her management wrote on social media. “Her hopes are to return to the Octagon as soon as possible but for now we ask for people to respect her privacy during this time.”

Sadly, she’s not alone.

Most sports on both the collegiate and professional levels have shut down operations in an attempt to “flatten the curve” as coronavirus continues to spread. UFC, however, needs to get paid and will soldier on — in spite of “major concerns” — and take its UFC 249 fight card to the tribal lands of the west coast.

See the revised UFC 249 line up right here.

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Chapman was 30 years old.

Bellator bantamweight fighter Isaiah Chapman was shot dead outside of his Akron, Ohio home on Tuesday night. According to an initial report by the Akron Beacon Journal, officers responded to a shots fired call at 9:40 pm, then later “found a 30-year-old man on the street with gunshot wounds.”

MMA Junkie went on to confirm through close sources that the individual named in the report was Chapman, who was eventually pronounced dead at Summa Akron City hospital. The suspect, meanwhile, remains at large.

Bellator matchmaker Rich Chou shared the news via social media.

A relative also confirmed Chapman’s death in a separate tweet.

“The Beast” began his career in 2012 under the Ohio-based North American Allied Fight Series (NAAFS), then went on to compete in other promotions before making his Bellator debut in October 2019. He lost that Bellator 232 fight against Patchy Mix via first-round submission and dropped to a record of 9-4 (with five wins by stoppage).

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Chapman’s funeral expenses.