Keenan Cornelius Gets Eye Infection – Will He Pull Out Of ADCC?
(This article is part of our week of ADCC coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend)
Editor’s Note: Keenan has indeed dropped out of ADCC.
It appears as if Keenan Cornelius has contracted an eye infection. Whether or not this is a big deal for ADCC still remains a question.
Keenan recently posted a warning to his Instagram about EKC, a form of conjunctivitis. The picture shows a bandage over his eye, so it appears that he contracted the virus, likely while training.
EKC is a form of conjunctivitis, a virus that affects the eye. You may know it as “Pink Eye”. But this isn’t just ‘regular old pink eye’ that you got as a kid. The EKC form of the virus appears to be a more severe version. According to the US CDC:
“EKC is caused by adenoviruses and is highly contagious. It causes severe inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea, and can result in vision loss.”
EKC can last as long as a month. That is not good timing with ADCC happening in a week.
The description “highly contagious” would suggest that this infection has spread around the grappling community, especially at Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. We haven’t seen any confirmed evidence of this yet.
However, last week at UFC Vancouver, Andrew Sanchez had to pull out due to an eye infection. Though Sanchez trains primarily at Tristar, this is curious timing. There could have been some cross training between the two gyms, as Renzo’s is always a popular destination for visitors.
Andrew Sanchez: Eye infection forced me off #UFCVancouver; Marvin Vettori fight rebooked https://t.co/XdKwrqke4S
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) September 12, 2019
If Keenan has the same virus with his current eye infection, it could sideline him for two weeks or more, which would mean a pull-out of ADCC.
Keenan has been on a tear lately, winning the No-Gi Pan absolute division this past week. He has credited his recent success to John Danaher and Gordon Ryan, as he has been training at Renzo Gracie Academy. Many of us are very much looking forward to seeing him compete at ADCC in a week, so this would be a tough loss for grappling fans.
Get well Keenan.
Stay tuned to Grappling Insider for our ADCC coverage. We recently interviewed Mo Jassim, as well as Ben Dyson and Tom Halpin. There is more coming up soon.
NOTE: Grappling Insider has reached out to Keenan for comment but has not heard back at the time of publishing. We will update this story if he does.
