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Lyman Good was supposed to fight Belal Muhammad at the cancelled UFC 249 ppv event, but withdrew from the event after testing positive for coronavirus.
Whether he picked it up in training or elsewhere, at least Lyman Good was willing to take proper precautions once he started to come down with symptoms of the coronavirus. ‘Cyborg’ told ESPN that he began to feel unwell about a month ago, during camp prep for his planned fight against Belal Muhammad on April 18th. Fortunately, he was able to get tested—the results came back positive for COVID-19.
Eventually Good, his girlfriend, and one of his coaches all tested positive. Forcing Good to self-quarantine while fighting off the symptoms of the virus. Fortunately, his training partners’ tests came up clear, and Good himself has now recovered and tested clear as well.
“I knew something was up,” Good told ESPN. “I know my body. I’ve been through it all. I’ve been through a lot of injuries and a lot of other things. But this was different. … As a professional athlete, we’re always constantly pushing our bodies. For me, my body was like my point check to see how physically I feel and everything. And my body just wasn’t there at all.”
“My real concern was really just my teammates, my coaches and anyone I was exposed to,” Good continued. “God forbid they get it, they spread it, and someone else gets sick really bad. I would feel responsible.”
Good told MMA Fighting at the time that he had withdrawn from the fight due to injury. He admitted to ESPN that he kept his diagnosis under wraps from the general public (he did tell people around him), because he didn’t want to “feed into the fear.” He has however been working with the Red Cross to donate his antibodies in order to “take this negative and try to turn it into a positive.”
“We didn’t want to feed into the fear, the imminent fear going on in society now,” Good said. “It’s a pandemic, it is a real thing happening. But I didn’t want to stoke the flames.”
Now that he’s healthy, though, he’s reportedly already back training. Good told ESPN that he wants to “get back on a card” soon and that while he was “out of commission for a little bit,” he’s now “ready to go back there.” If the UFC finds a way to start putting on events again, it sounds like he’ll likely be in their future fight card plans.