Ian Heinisch Says UFC 250 May Have Been Canceled After Cornerman’s Coronavirus Scare
There was a coronavirus scare involving one of Heinisch’s cornermen at the event and Heinisch says that situation almost caused UFC 250 to be canceled.
“It was wild. First, they were blowing up my phone, ‘Hey, your cornermen tested positive,’” he said after the event (via Milan Ordonez of Bloody Elbow). “They came and got him, and then we sat down and we were like, ‘How did this happen?’ We realized, he was around all the other people, too, a bunch of other fighters. So, the whole card was probably gonna flop. And we’re like, ‘there’s no way he tested positive.’ We found out it was an inconclusive test, we got him retested, and the UFC did a great job, we found him to be negative, and I had to turn my phone off for, like, five hours because it leaked on the internet and everyone was blowing me up that my fight was pulled. So I just had to stay focused. I was in the middle of cutting weight. I had to keep cutting weight, I wanted to eat. But, I just stayed focused.”
Heinisch’s cornerman wound up testing negative for the coronavirus on the second test, as the first was inconclusive. If Heinisch wasn’t able to compete on the card and the event moved on without him, a replacement fighter in Anthony Ivy would’ve faced Meerschaert on short notice.
Thus far, two UFC fighters have tested positive for the coronavirus, with those being Ronaldo Souza and Lyman Good.
