As Raquel Pennington walked towards the Octagon for her UFC Vegas 37 fight against Pannie Kianzad, UFC correspondent Heidi Androl said something of note. According to her, the 33-year-old former title challenger was “really sick” for 31 days and was in the hospital on a ventilator.
Now, as the current events of the past 18 months would tell us, these are signs of a COVID-19 infection. And during her post-fight scrum after defeating Kianzad via decision, Pennington confirmed everyone’s hunches.
In April, I ended up getting COVID. I coach high school gymnastics, and I think (I got it) from just being around the athletes there.