Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
UFC middleweight Wellington Turman went through a tough 14-day period with COVID-19.
Not only was UFC middleweight Wellington Turman forced out of a October 31 fight against Sean Strickland due to a positive COVID-19 test, but his bout with the disease was a rather tough one to endure.
In an interview with Combate, the 24-year-old fighter detailed all the symptoms he felt and how much the infection affected his daily life. According to Wellington, mundane tasks like cleaning up after his dog were rendered nearly impossible due to the shortness of breath Turman experienced, for instance.
“I was tested three weeks ago,” Turman said. “My brother had his first symptoms on a Tuesday, then Wednesday I was feeling it, too. I had seen him on Monday. You need to wait for a little while, because it takes some time for the virus to show up. I waited three days, got tested and it came back positive. I was in pretty bad shape. I don’t usually get sick, not even colds or anything, but that thing knocked me down.”
“I had a fever, chest pains, shortness of breath,” Turman continued. “I felt like an old man. When I had to go outside to clean up my dog’s pee, I was already breathing heavily. It was very bad, I was in bad shape for two weeks, then I got better. I still feel some chest pain, but I feel better.”
Even though Wellington says he mostly prefers to stay home and maintain a healthy lifestyle, the disease still put him out of commission for two weeks. Now that he’s starting to feel better, Turman never wants to feel like that again and will respect the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 more from now on.
“I started to respect it more,” Turman said. “I always took really good care of myself, especially because of the UFC. You have to be healthy all the time. I was taking care of myself, I enjoy staying home, but you end up catching it from your own family while having no idea. I take care of my diet, I don’t drink and I still got it pretty bad. It didn’t get to the point where I needed to go to the hospital, but it knocked me down in a way I never want to feel ever again.”
In his last outing, Wellington Turman (16-4) was knocked out by Andrew Sanchez, back in August. Before that, the 24-year-old scored a unanimous decision victory over fellow Brazilian Markus Perez.