Photo by Press Office of Dagestan’s Head \TASS via Getty Images
The UFC champion reportedly wanted the doctor’s attention to be focused on his ailing father instead.
Despite his father falling into a coma following a positive test for COVID-19, Khabib Nurmagomedov reportedly refused to be tested for the deadly disease.
According to telegram channel Mash (h/t RT Sports), doctors offered the UFC champion COVID-19 testing after his father was infected and fell ill, but the fighter reportedly refused the test and insisted that the doctors focus their attention on his father, who remains in critical condition.
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, 57, was transported from his native Dagestan to a military hospital in Moscow several weeks ago after falling ill with pneumonia and flu-like symptoms, which was later confirmed to be COVID-19. As his condition worsened, the renowned coach suffered a stroke and underwent surgery before being placed in a medically induced coma. And despite waking from the coma a week later, he was reportedly unable to speak and is still in critical condition. He remains unconscious and is unable to breathe without medical support.
Last month, Khabib confirmed on Instagram Live that his father had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and had suffered heart complications from the disease.
“He’s in the hospital now, he’s in a very serious condition. He had heart complications stemming from the virus. This virus has very seriously affected his heart, since he had a heart operation a year ago,” Khabib said (h/t RT Sports). “He’s had surgery again. He’s in a difficult situation, very difficult. We ask Allah to return him to us. Thank you very much to everyone who writes, who sends their support. May Allah help us all.”
The Russian Federation has over 415,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including nearly 5000 fatalities. However, Dagestan has also emerged as the nation’s coronavirus hotspot after the republic’s ministry of health revealed figures that far surpassed Moscow’s estimates, claiming that the total number of people infected with coronavirus and community-acquired pneumonia in Dagestan exceeded 13,000, with 657 dead.