Daniel Cormier faced some adversity ahead of his August trilogy bout against Stipe Miocic at UFC 252.
The former heavyweight champion tested positive for COVID-19 in early July, he told Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole.
One of Cormier's teammates at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose tested positive on July 1. Cormier, his coaches, and other training partners got tested, and all of their results came back negative on July 3.
"I started feeling a little sick," Cormier said. "Things weren't exactly ... well, let me put it this way: I wasn't sick, but I got a little tired and peaked. Monday (July 7) comes, I go to practice and I spar and I worked out three times. I felt OK, but I was a little bit tired is, I guess, how I would put it."
DC went to practice again July 8 but went to the doctor after leaving the gym early. That's when he found out he was infected.
Cormier said he doesn't believe testing positive is an excuse for dropping a unanimous decision to Miocic in their title bout a month later. The 41-year-old said that he believes a smart ring he was wearing potentially kept him in the fight; it signaled that he seemed to be ill, prompting Cormier to go to the doctor.
"I might have just kept pushing and not known I had (the coronavirus)," Cormier said. "But I was able to take care of myself properly and then get back into training and compete for the heavyweight championship of the world."
