Former UFC Fighter Sergio Moraes Battled The Coronavirus

Former UFC fighter Sergio Moraes has fought many battles inside of the Octagon, but his biggest fight didn’t come in the professional MMA realm.

That’s because the fighter contracted the coronavirus, which is something Moraes didn’t expect to get.

“I’ve always respected the disease. I have lots of friends in Europe and in the United States. I talked to them and knew that it was serious business. I thought that because I never smoked, drank, or partied, it would be easy for me if I caught it. It was not easy at all. It’s serious business. It’s an aggressive disease. If you think you’ll be all right because you’re an athlete or because you have a physical activities background, forget that. You better take precautions. If it’s hard for us who live a healthy lifestyle, I wonder what it’s like for those who don’t. When I was sick, I kept thinking I didn’t want my parents, my sister or my kids to go through this. People need to be aware and take care,” Moraes said to Combate.

Moraes wound up beating the coronavirus, which is something that not everybody who gets the virus has a chance to do.

The former UFC star says it was the high temperatures and headaches that bothered him the most during the battle against the coronavirus.

“Those were two tough weeks. I had all the symptoms. The scariest ones were the constant 104-degree fever and the headaches. You can’t find a good position to rest your head. I lost my sense of smell, I could not taste anything, it was bizarre. I only knew I was eating beans because I could see them. After four or five days with COVID-19, Felipe (his doctor) told me to put on a mask and go for a walk to see if I had shortness of breath. I said: ‘Are you crazy? How will I be out of breath just from walking?’. I came out of the back of my mom’s house, where I was isolated and walked up to the second floor, I didn’t even need to go outside, I was already out of breath. It was bizarre,” says Moraes.

WorldOMeters reports that 3,861,240 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus worldwide, with 267,054 of those folks passing away due to the virus.