The COVID-19 pandemic has really taken a toll on the entire planet. As far as the sports world is concerned, it put a halt to all activity for a few months for precautionary reasons. After all, no one was (or still is) equipped to battle this invisible enemy.
A few months into the pandemic, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President, Dana White, defied the odds and kept his promise of being the first major sports organization to get the ball rolling, staging UFC 249 on May 9, 2020, in Jacksonville, Florida. It didn’t take long for COVID-19 to show its ugly head, though, as Ronaldo Souza and a few of his cornermen tested positive for the virus, prompting his removal from the event.
As a result, UFC implemented extensive testing and precautionary protocols — as well as locking down a “private” island to stage fights — in order to further prevent the spread of the virus at events.
Several cases have popped up since the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020, forcing the promotion to scramble, reschedule bouts and book last-minute replacements. Below you will find the extensive and updated list of all the positive tests produced by fighters and/or their coaching staff, as well as those who were affected by coronavirus without testing positive.
- Rose Namajunas revealed she had withdrawn from her fight against Jessica Andrade at UFC 249 after losing several family members to COVID-19.
- Lyman Good was the first UFC fighter to test positive in March and was forced to withdraw from UFC 249 where he was originally set to take on Belal Muhammad on April 19.
- Ronaldo Souza and two of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19, and “Jacare” was forced to withdraw from his fight against Uriah Hall at UFC 249.
- Ian Heinisch was almost forced to withdraw from UFC 250 after one of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19. A day later it was revealed the test was a false positive and Heinisch was allowed to compete on the card against Gerald Meerschaert.
- Matt Frevola was removed from his fight against Frank Camacho at UFC Vegas 3 after one of Frevola’s cornermen — UFC fighter Billy Quarantillo — tested positive. Frevola produced two negative results, but was kept from fighting for precautionary reasons.
- Ramiz Brahimaj was pulled from his fight against Takashi Soto at UFC Vegas 4 on June 26 after one of his cornermen tested positive.
- On July 3, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov — Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father and trainer — passed away as a result of complications stemming from COVID-19.
- Gilbert Burns and his coach, Greg Jones, tested positive on July 3 and “Durinho” was forced out of his Welterweight title fight against Kamaru Usman. Jorge Masvidal was pegged as a late replacement. In turn, Masvidal’s trainer, Mike Brown, also tested positive and was unable to make the trip to “Fight Island.”
- Alexander Romanov was forced to withdraw from his fight against Marcin Tybura at UFC 251 on July 9 after testing positive.
- Pedro Munhoz tested positive on July 6 and was forced to withdraw from his fight against Frankie Edgar, which was set to headline UFC Fight Island 1 on July 15. It was rebooked a few more times and eventually headlined UFC on ESPN 15 on Aug. 22.
- Vinicius Moreira was forced to withdraw from his fight against Modestas Bukauskas at UFC Fight Island 1 after testing positive.
- Anderson dos Santos tested positive and was also forced out of UFC Fight Island 1.
- A fight between Carla Esparza and Marina Rodriguez was scrapped from UFC Fight Island 1 after one of Rodriguez’s cornermen tested positive.
- After testing positive for COVID-19 months before his scheduled fight against Joseph Benavidez at UFC Fight Island 2, Deiveson Figueiredo was in danger of being pulled from the fight after a false positive test surfaced on July 10. He eventually cleared and submitted “Joe Jitsu” to retain his Flyweight title.
- Irene Aldana was forced to withdraw from her fight against Holly Holm — which was set to headline UFC Vegas 5 — on July 22 after testing positive for COVID-19.
- Viviane Araujo tested positive and withdrew from her fight against Jennifer Maia set for UFC Vegas 5. She was replaced by Joanne Calderwood.
- Gerald Meerschaert tested positive on Aug. 1 and was removed from his fight against Ed Herman at UFC Vegas 5.
- A fight between Nicco Montano and Julia Avila was set to go down on Aug. 8 at UFC Vegas 6, but was rescheduled after one of Montano’s coaches tested positive.
- A rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cutelaba was scratched from UFC 252 after Cutelaba tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 11. It was rebooked for UFC Vegas 8 on Aug. 29.
- On Aug. 20, Mark Streigl tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to make his UFC debut against Timur Valiev at UFC on ESPN 15.
- Ovince Saint Preux tested positive and forced to withdraw from his fight against Alonzo Menifield, scheduled to go down at UFC on ESPN 15 on Aug. 22.
- Nicco Montano tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 29 and her fight against Julia Avila was once again rescheduled, this time for Sept. 5.
- On Aug. 29, Ricky Simon was pulled from his fight against Brian Kelleher set for UFC Vegas 9 on Sept. 5 after one of his coaches tested positive.
- On Aug. 29 Ion Cutelaba again tested positive for COVID-19 and his rematch against Magomed Ankalaev was once again postponed.
- On Sept. 2, Glover Teixeira tested positive and his Light Heavyweight bout against Thiago Santos — which was set to headline UFC Vegas 10 on Sept. 12 — will now be the co-main event to a “Fight Night” event headlined by Holly Holm vs Irene Aldana on Oct. 3.
- On Sept. 4, Cody Garbrandt announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of his title fight against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 255. In the end, a torn bicep is what forced “No Love” out of the event.
- On Sept. 5, Thiago Moises tested positive and his fight against Jaline Turner — set to go down at UFC Vegas 9 that night — was scratched.
- On Sept 5, UFC Vegas 9 suffered another setback due to COVID 19 — and on fight day, no less — as Marco Rogerio de Lima tested positive and was forced out of his Heavyweight fight against Alexander Romanov. No replacement could be found on such short notice.
- On Sept 5. Kevin Natividad was pulled from his fight against Brian Kelleher, initially for undisclosed reasons. It was later revealed that Natividad’s initial COVID-19 test came back positive. Kevin convinced the promotion to test him further due to the fact that all of his team who made the trip to Vegas tested negative. Results of the additional tests came back negative, though the decision to keep Natividad from fighting for precautionary reasons remained.
- On Sept. 10, Frank Camacho tested positive for coronavirus and was yanked from his UFC Vegas 10 showdown opposite Brock Weaver and replaced by lightweight “Contender Series” standout Jalin Turner.
- On Sept. 15, Daniel Cormier revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 around five weeks prior to his championship trilogy fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 252, which went down on Aug. 15, 2020. “DC’s” diagnosis was not revealed at the time, though he did pass all of the pre-fight COVID-19 tests prior to the fight.
- On Sept. 15, Eduardo Garagorri was forced out of his fight against Mirsad Bektic — which was scheduled for UFC Vegas 11 on Sept. 19, 2020 — after one of his cornermen tested positive for coronavirus.
- On Sept. 15, Thiago Santos tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced out of his fight against Glover Teixeira which was set to go down on Oct. 3. Two weeks prior, it was Teixeira who tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the promotion to reschedule the fight to Oct. 3.
- On Sept. 16, Johnny Walker revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19 sometime in August, which ultimately delayed his return to action. He was eventually booked to face Ryan Spann at UFC Vegas 11, set to go down on Sept. 19.
- On Sept. 17, Nate Landwehr tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced out of his fight against Shane Young, which was set to go down this Saturday night (Sept. 26, 2020) at UFC 253.
- On Oct. 1, Wellington Turman revealed he tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks prior.
- On Oct. 3, 2020, Alejandro Perez tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from his fight against Thomas Almeida, which was set to go down on Oct. 10.
- On Oct. 7, 2020, Mounir Lazzez tested positive for COVID-19 and was pulled from his scheduled fight against David Zawada, which was set to go down at UFC Fight Island 6 on Oct. 17.
- On Oct. 8, 2020, Rafael dos Anjos tested positive for the coronavirus and was pulled from his fight against Islam Makhachev, which was scheduled to go down at UFC 254 on Oct. 24, 2020.
- On Oct. 9, 2020, Brian Ortega’s head trainer — Rener Gracie —- tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, he was unable to make the trip to Abu Dhabi to corner Ortega in his fight against “The Korean Zombie,” set for Oct. 17 at UFC Fight Island 6.
- On Oct. 15, 2020, Cynthia Calvillo tested positive and was forced out of her fight against Lauren Murphy, which was set to go down at UFC 254 on Oct. 24, 2020.
- On Oct. 23, 2020, Ali Abdelaziz — manager to several UFC fighters — announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be hospitalized.
- On Oct. 27, Gabriel Benitez tested positive and was removed from his fight against Justin Jaynes, which was scheduled to go down at UFC Vegas 14 on Nov. 14.
- Felipe Colares tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 1 and was forced out of his fight against Gustavo Lopez, which was set to go down at UFC Vegas 13 on Nov. 7, 2020.
- On Nov. 22, Renato Moicano revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 and that his bout against Rafael Fiziev was taken off UFC Vegas 15 and shifted over to UFC 256 on Dec. 12, 2020.
- On. Nov. 27, it was announced that Curtis Blaydes had tested positive for COVID-19 a day before his scheduled Heavyweight bout against Derrick Lewis, which was set to headline UFC Vegas 15 on Sat., Nov. 28, 2020.
- On Nov. 28, Kevin Holland was forced out of his bout against Jack Hermansson — which was set to headline UFC Vegas 16 on Sat. Dec. 5, 2020 — after he tested positive for COVID-19.
- On Dec. 1, 2020, Leon Edwards tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced out of his fight against Khamzat Chimaev, which was supposed to headline UFC Vegas 17 on Dec. 19, 2020.
- On Dec. 5, it was announced that Movsar Evloev and one of Montana De La Rosa’s cornermen tested positive for COVID-19, forcing both fighters out of UFC Vegas 16.
- On Dec. 7, Angela Hill announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing her out of her scheduled fight against Tecia Torres, which was set to go down at UFC 256.
- On Dec. 7, Karl Roberson announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus and was forced to postpone his fight against Dalcha Lungiambula — which was set for UFC 256 — to go down at UFC Vegas 17 on Dec. 19.
- Alexandre Pantoja tested positive for COVID 19 on Dec. 14, canceling his bout against Manel Kape at UFC Vegas 17, which was eventually rebooked for UFC Vegas 18.
- Dwight Grant tested positive on Dec. 8, forcing him out of his scheduled fight against Li Jingliang at UFC 256.
- Jared Vanderaa tested positive on December 10, forcing him out of UFC 256.
- Muslim Salikhov tested positive on Dec. 15, forcing him out of his scheduled bout against Santiago Ponzinibbio on “Fight Island” on Jan. 16.
- Belal Muhammad tested positive on Dec. 15, forcing him out of his fight against Dhiego Lima, which was set for UFC Vegas 17.
- Rick Glenn tested positive on Dec. 17, forcing him out of his fight against Carlton Minus at UFC Vegas 17.
- Aiemann Zahabi tested positive on Dec. 18, forcing him out of his fight against Drako Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 17.
- Jordan Espinoza tested positive on Dec. 22, forcing him out of his fight against Tim Elliott which was set for UFC Fight Island 7.
- Khamzat Chimaev was forced out of his fight against Leon Edwards on Dec. 29 due to ongoing effects of COVID-19 after testing positive for the virus in November.
- Brian Kelleher tested positive on Jan. 2, as a result his fight against Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Island 7 was canceled and rebooked for UFC 258.
- Anthony Hernandez tested positive on Jan 4, forcing him out of his fight against Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 258.
- Merab Dvalishvili tested positive on Jan 9, forcing him out of his fight against Cody Stamann
- Chris Weidman tested positive on Jan. 29, canceling his fight against Uriah Hall which was set to co-headline UFC 258.
- Andre Ewell tested positive on Feb. 2, forcing him out of his fight against Cody Stamann at UFC Vegas 18.
- Raphael Assuncao tested positive on Feb. 2, forcing him out of his scheduled bout against Raoni Barcelos at UFC Vegas 18.
- Marion Reneau tested positive on Feb. 3, forcing her out of her scheduled fight against Macy Chiasson at UFC Vegas 18.
- Jimmie Rivera was forced out of his fight against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 258 after testing positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 9.
- On Feb. 11, Khamzat Chimaev was once again forced out of his rescheduled fight against Leon Edwards due to lingering issues of his battle with COVID-19, which has been plaguing him since November.
- Raoni Barcelos was removed from his fight against Marcelo Rojo — which was set to go down at UFC Vegas 20 — after testing positive for the virus on Feb. 22.
- On Feb. 25, Alonzo Menifield tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him out of his scheduled fight against William Knight at UFC Vegas 20.
- Jamahal Hill tested positive on March 10, forcing him out of his fight against Paul Craig at UFC Vegas 22.
- Paulo Costa tested positive sometime in February, but didn’t reveal until he was forced out of his fight against Robert Whittaker — which was scheduled to go down on April 17 — due to complications.
- Alexander Volkanovski was forced out of his fight against Brain Ortega at UFC 260 after he tested positive.
- Hannah Goldy was forced out of UFC 260 after she tested positive on March 24.
- William Knight was forced out of his fight against Alonzo Menifield, which was set for UFC 260, as a result of COVID-19 protocols.
It’s important to keep in mind that the list above only shows documented and confirmed cases that have been made public.
Keep it locked in to MMAmania.com for continued updates.