Less than 24 hours ago, we learned that Rose Namajunas was out of her scheduled bout with Jessica Andrade. Many speculated that the former champ was ‘scared’ to rematch Andrade. However, that is not the reason why she pulled out.

Rose Namajunas lost her strawweight title last year against Jessica Andrade. Rose outstruck Andrade for the majority of the fight. However, she was slammed on her head which knocked her out cold. Since then, Andrade lost her belt to Weili Zhang.

Rose has been inactive since an unsuccessful title defense against Andrade. She was scheduled to fight Andrade in a non-title rematch at UFC 249. But, as reported earlier, Rose Namajunas pulled out of her bout, leaving Andrade without an opponent.

Rose Namajunas loses family members to the Coronavirus

In a recent tweet by Ariel Helwani, he mentioned that Namajunas has lost 2 of her family members lost the battle against the Coronavirus.

The tweet said: “Why did Rose Namajunas withdraw from UFC 249? Two of her family members have died due to Coronavirus.”

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Along with the tweet, Helwani attached a picture of a statement from Rose’s manager – Brian Butler.

It said:

“Rose withdrew from UFC 249 due to 2 deaths in the family related to the Coronavirus. She hopes to return to the octagon as soon as possible but for now, we ask for people to respect their privacy during this time.”

The names or the relation of the family members are not disclosed.

Michael Bisping praises Dana White for making UFC 249 possible

UFC 249 will move forward without the Namajunas. As of now, no replacement has been announced for her opponent, Jessica Andrade. Therefore, it is unclear whether she will be competing at the event.

The Coronavirus has claimed many lives around the world. With fighters’ close ones getting affected, one can never know if a fighter is carrying the disease. In many people, the virus has been asymptomatic; showing no sign of the illness. 

Dana White’s decision to move forward with the events, might turn out to be fatal and potentially shorten fighters’ careers. All full-contact combat sport like MMA is more vulnerable to such diseases.