UFC Bantamweight Marlon Moraes tests positive for COVID-19
UFC Bantamweight Marlon Moraes has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a report from ESPN Brazil.
The report states that both Moraes and his wife have tested COVID-19 positive, with his wife also being forced to spend a day in the hospital. Moraes noted that the couple felt "weak" and the symptoms were very strong on them.
Having moved to the American Top Team recently, which is a Florida based gym, Marlon Moraes became the latest member from ATT to contract COVID-19 after Mike Brown had also tested positive. Brown was unable to corner Jorge Masvidal in his recent UFC 251 fight against Kamaru Usman because he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
On the other hand, ATT's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, Marcos “Parrumpa” DaMatt also tested positive for COVID-19 upon his initial arrival to Las Vegas, but eventually tested negative and was able to take the flight to Fight Island, as he is set to corner Alexandre Pantoja in his fight against Askar Askarov on Saturday.
Marlon Moraes' last UFC fight
Marlon Moraes was last seen in Octagon action at UFC 245 and was victorious over former UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo in what was the latter's divisional debut.
However, despite the win, the shot at the vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship was given to Jose Aldo, as he faced Petr Yan at UFC 251 recently. Aldo eventually lost the fight despite a very resilient effort.
It remains to be seen what's next for Marlon Moraes. The Brazilian Bantamweight has been calling for a fight against former UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz, and Cody Garbrandt, with the latter claiming that he hopes to fight Moraes in October. Nothing has been officially confirmed yet but if everything goes according to plan, Moraes vs Garbrandt could be a fight in the making.
As of now though, we wish Marlon Moraes and his wife a speedy recovery.