ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is reporting that Jacare Souza has tested positive for COVID-19 and is being pulled from UFC 249 tomorrow night.
Souza was scheduled to face veteran slugger Uriah Hall. The card is still set to go on and as of this report there is no news on a potential replacement fight for Hall.
According to the report “Souza was asymptomatic but was monitored and tested, and Friday the test came back positive after he had already appeared at the weigh-in for Saturday’s fight.”
To throw another combat sports wrinkle in to this, the UFC and AEW talent all shared the same hotel in Jacksonville this week. While everyone has been tested earlier in the week, the asymptomatic Jacare just found out he was positive and could have possibly spread the virus around the hotel if he wasn’t careful, which could be very damaging for both companies.
UPDATE: The story just keeps getting better. 2 of Jacares cornermen also tested positive.
Jacare also wasnt doing a very good job practicing social distancing. While he is wearing gloves and a mask, here he is topless goofing around with Fabricio Werdum.