While visiting his childhood home, former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Famer Mark Coleman was woken up by his beloved dog Hammer at 4:00 a.m. as the house was being consumed with fire.
Swapping his metaphorical championship belt for a cape, Coleman managed to run through the burning house and save his elderly parents before succumbing to smoke inhalation.
Rushed to the hospital, he “battled for his life” until he was able to breathe on his own again 3 days later.
“I had to make a decision,” Coleman said about the house fire from his hospital bed, “It was already horrible! I couldn’t breathe!”
“I’m the happiest man in the world. I swear to God I’m so lucky! I can’t believe my parents are alive!” he said with tears in his eyes, after his daughters were allowed to see him for the first time.
Tragically, Hammer perished in the fire—the same fate that almost befell Coleman, who suffered the worst from the smoke when he ran back in to try and rescue his beloved Rottweiler.
The former champ’s adult daughters McKenzie and Morgan took unpaid leave to help Coleman recover, and they set up a GoFundMe to pay for his recovery and to help support his parents, who lost everything in the fire. At publishing time, $127,000 had been raised from friends, family, and fans alike.
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“Yesterday my Dad was released from St. Vincents Hospital in Toledo where they thought he was stable enough to go home,” McKenzie wrote in a March 16th update.
“We were only home in Columbus for about an hour when he started to have numbness in his arms and chest pain. My Sister, Morgan, and I rushed him back to the hospital where they determined he has developed pneumonia. Despite all of this, he is still the same positive, spunky, spitfire self just as I am sure you can imagine…”
“He wants to thank you all for the support and love you have shown him, and us during this extremely difficult time.”
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For those who are interested, Mark Coleman was the UFC 10 and 11 tournament champion, and the organization’s first-ever Heavyweight champion.
At UFC 82, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for being the first competitor to use American freestyle wrestling to dominate his opponents, and showing martial artists around the world that if you can’t defend yourself from being taken down to the mat, you stand no chance among the best fighters in the world.
In the latest update, Coleman, frustrated but in good humor by his repeat hospitalization, said “I gotta get training but they won’t let me outta’ my bed!”
WATCH the first words the former champ shared with his daughters…
SHARE This Man’s Heroism And The Inspiring Support He’s Received…