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16th August 2015
09:10pm BST
"We did a morphology ultrasound last week and the doctor said I’m 24 weeks pregnant, almost six months, and my baby is healthy and strong," Novaes told MMAFighting.com. "I was worried because I trained hard, fought, cut weight. I suffered a lot to make weight for my last fight, couldn’t dehydrate properly, and I was already training to fight again next week, but the doctor said everything is fine."
The 8-2 fighter was forced to go to a doctor when she was unable to cut weight for her next bout and that's when she learned the news.
Novaes obviously won't be able to make her RFA debut but it raises the question... How was a fighter allowed to compete when three months pregnant? Noxii promoter Bruno Barros takes full responsibility for that having happened as the promotion is not governed by the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission (CABMMA)."I’m a little stubborn, I don’t like to go to the doctor," Novaes said. "I’ve been feeling sick for a while, colic, headaches and cramps. I was feeling tired recently, couldn’t even run, and it was really tough for me to cut weight. I was cutting weight for my RFA debut, but couldn’t lose weight. I did a stricter diet four weeks before the fight, and I actually gained 2.2 pounds in six days. I was desperate. I realized my belly was hard, so I thought I had some intestine issue. I took laxative and other things, but a guy that does massages for me told me to go to the doctor."
"I finally decided to go to the hospital, and the doctor immediately asked me if I was pregnant," she added. "I insisted I was not, that I had an intestine issue, but he asked for a blood test. One hour later, he told us I was pregnant. I cried a lot, ran out of the hospital, but I realized that was good news. I thought I was sick, but I had a baby instead."
"I didn’t ask for the exam. That’s the truth," Barros said. "I didn’t even think about the possibility of a woman fighting while pregnant, going through a camp and dehydrating and everything."
"That was my first event," he added. "I asked for HIV and hepatitis tests, but some fighters didn’t send me the results. I didn’t pull them out of the fights because they all wanted to fight. Some fighters claimed they had no money to pay for the tests, others said they didn’t have time to do it, but that’s my fault that I let them fight anyway. But thank God everything is fine with the baby."
You couldn't make it up.
