Amanda Nunes reveals she had COVID-19 symptoms, took Nina Ansaroff to ER

Nunes and Ansaroff are in Las Vegas for UFC 250, where “The Lioness” fights Felicia Spencer. | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Amanda Nunes and her fiancee Nina Ansaroff had COVID-19 symptoms earlier this year, the two-division UFC champion revealed on Thursday during a virtual UFC 250 media day.

“The Lioness,” who defends her featherweight title on Saturday night against Felicia Spencer, said she experienced symptoms of the disease after a trip to Las Vegas, but she couldn’t get tested for the novel coronavirus in a Florida hospital.

“I was in a convention in Vegas, with people from all over the world, right when the COVID-19 thing started,” Nunes said. “I left the convention here in Vegas and went home. I started to get real sick when I got home. I’ve never felt that in my life; I was in bed for two or three days.”

Nunes did not say whether or not Ansaroff went to Las Vegas with her. But her partner and fellow UFC fighter also showed symptoms of the disease. Ansaroff is pregnant and their baby boy is due September.

“And when I started to get better, Nina started to get sick too,” Nunes said. “I recovered at home, I was in total quarantine, and Nina went to the emergency [room] real fast because of the baby.

“We still didn’t manage to get tested, because it was in the early stages of it all – they didn’t have many tests,” Nunes said. “But she was tested for everything else and it all came back negative. If she got tested for the coronavirus, maybe it would have come back positive, right? But everything went right and she recovered quickly. Nina is really strong too and was able to recover.”

Ansaroff travelled from Florida to Las Vegas to follow her fiancee during UFC 250 fight week. Both fighters were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in Las Vegas as part of UFC’s safety program, but Nunes wasn’t asked at the virtual media day if her fight week test results showed whether or not they had been infected in the past.