Retired UFC champ champ Daniel Cormier was interviewed recently by Kevin Iole for Yahoo Sports and DC revealed he had COVID-19 prior to the trilogy fight vs. Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 252 on August 15. In the beginning of July, an AKA teammate tested of DC's tested positive, and Cormier was immediately tested and was negative when the tests came back on July 3. However, on July 8 Cormier felt COVID-19 symptoms, but had trained three times that day, and attributed the fatigue to that. Then he tested positive the following week.
Cormier attributed his diagnosis in part to the UFC's new partner, Oura Health, the company that makes the $299 Oura Ring, a smart ring that among other things measures the physiological signals of your body. It spurred him to seek medical attention when he otherwise might have plowed through.
“I think it’s a fantastic product, man,” said Cormier. “The reason I told anyone that I would be involved with it in any way, shape, or form is because I believe in it so much. I think everyone should be wearing one. It’s that good.”
“Over the weekend, I started feeling a little sick. Things weren’t exactly ... well, let me put it this way: I wasn’t sick, but I got a little tired and peaked. Monday 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. Now, let me go back for a second: The Wednesday prior, my readiness score was at 78, 79. The readiness score is what tells you how you are supposed to approach the day. When it’s low, it’s telling you to take a step back.
“I’ve been using it for months now because my body needs to know if I’m going in the right direction. … On Monday night, Tuesday morning, I wasn’t feeling so good. My resting heart rate had been 50 beats a minute. Now it was at 57. My body temperature had changed.”
“The ring didn’t tell me I had COVID. But the ring told me that something wasn’t right, and I used the information to make a decision to go see the doctor. I found out then that I had COVID, but the information I got from the ring allowed me to make the fight.
“This is not an excuse at all. Miocic won the fight and he fought beautifully. This is a thank you almost to Oura for allowing me to get to the fight. I might have just kept pushing and not known I had it. 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. Without the ring, I don’t think that’s possible.”
The UFC intends to offer the Oura Ring to every fighter who wants one.