Amanda Nunes pulled out of UFC 213 due to a medical reason which was originally believed to be weigh-cut related. After being examined she was released from the hospital and cleared to fight. Despite being cleared, Amanda decided not to compete. Last Sunday Amanda revealed her problem was chronic sinusitis, so she did not want to risk the championship, as she didn’t feel 100% to fight.
A research based on medical data, reveals how delicate sinusitis can be, however, it does not prove to be a strong factor for not having fought. To the eyes of many analysts this seems more an excuse than a reality, let’s take a brief look at this disease.
It all starts with the shape of our skull, let’s say there are some kind of compartments that lodge and drain sputum (mucus) from the upper airway. There are several types of these compartments, called paranasal, frontal, maxillary, ethmoid and sphenoidal sinuses.
In essence, sinusitis is that the sinuses do not drain sputum or drain much less than they should. This causes the cavities to fill up with secretions and produce headache, respiratory distress, temperature, facial cephalic oppression, among other symptoms.
This does cause a problem in the fighter, because there is extra pressure on the face, a blow can cause a fracture more easily and if this happened, it is practically a certainty that the wound would become infected, because the mucus is not sterile. However, there are pharmacological treatments that decrease the production of mucus in addition to facilitating the drainage of the same. In the same way, there are invasive treatments in which the sinuses are drained without having to make a surgical incision.
Obviously Amanda did not go to the hospital because of dehydration and fatigue, she went to the hospital because of her sinusitis or so she argues. You may have been discharged despite your sinusitis, because it is not enough reason to admit a patient. If the doctor observes that the mechanical aspiration is not enough to be fit for the fight, then it is the physician’s obligation to determine it in writing, a situation that did not occur.
The mere situation that she was not physically fit to fight and a doctor gave her the go-ahead would be negligence. Both Nunes and UFC could proceed legally against the hospital and the doctor in charge of giving these indications, but it was not so, she was fit for the combat, but did not want to fight.
No doctor discharges a patient based on generalities, ignoring the pathology that led the patient to the hospital. Not only would it be unethical, it is illogical.
As Dana White said:
“Amanda’s problem was 10% physical and 90% mental.”
*Article translated from Spanish.
