Former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman had an unfortunate incident recently which has left him in a critical condition.
As revealed by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Coleman was hospitalized recently after saving his parents from a house fire on Tuesday morning. The 59-year-old former fighter was airlifted to the hospital after managing to rescue his mother and father from the scene. However, he decided to enter the burning house again in an attempt to save their dog, Hammer. Coleman failed to save the dog and passed out as a result of smoke inhalation.
Speaking about the same, Mark Coleman’s daughter took to Instagram and revealed that her father, “Managed to carry both of his parents out of the house but despite his best efforts was not able to save Hammer. He was life-flighted to the hospital where is currently battling for his life after this heroic act.”
She further urged everyone to pray for his well-being and speedy recovery. She said:
“Our father has always been our hero and means the world to us. He is and always will be a fighter. The strongest and bravest man I know. Please continue to pray for him and our family during this extremely difficult time. We will miss our sweet hammer so deeply.”
As of now, it is unclear what started the fire and it was revealed by his friend and former fighter Wes Sims, that Mark Coleman was intubated and sedated at the hospital.
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Mark Coleman is UFC’s first-ever heavyweight champion
The name Mark Coleman has forever been etched in the history books of the UFC. The heavyweight championship in the UFC was introduced back in 1997. For the inaugural title bout, Coleman was scheduled to take on Don Fyre.
However, Don Fyre was forced to pull out of the fight and was replaced by Dan Severn. When the two locked horns inside the octagon, Coleman beat Severn in the first round via submission and became the promotion’s first-ever heavyweight champion.
Mark Coleman held the title for 170 days before losing his title at the hands of Maurice Smith. Later he left the UFC and returned to the promotion in 2009 for a year and retired in 2010.
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