TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — UFC Corridor of Famer and former champion Mark Coleman referred to as himself “the happiest man on this planet” as he embraced members of his household from a hospital mattress.
Coleman was airlifted to a hospital on Wednesday after saving his mother and father from a home fireplace in Ohio this week, in keeping with daughter Morgan Coleman. On Thursday, an emotional video was posted to Mark Coleman’s Instagram.
“I swear to God, I’m so fortunate,” Coleman mentioned within the video. “I can’t imagine my mother and father are alive. I needed to decide. I acquired out of my room and went to the door and it was already horrible. I couldn’t breathe. I virtually needed to go outdoors, however I went again and acquired them. I can’t imagine it.”
Morgan Coleman had posted that her father went into the burning home a number of instances and was in a position to carry out his mom and father. Coleman mentioned on the time that her 59-year-old father was “battling for his life after this heroic act.”
He was unable to rescue a canine, Hammer, from the hearth.
“I acquired them (his mother and father) however could not discover Hammer,” Coleman mentioned within the video.
A publish on X from UFC author Jonathan Snowden confirmed large injury to the home.
Coleman, type Fremont, Ohio, was UFC’s first heavyweight champion in 1997 when he defeated Dan Severn. He gained 16 of 26 fights over his 14-year profession and was inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame in 2008.
Coleman was an novice wrestler earlier than his Blended Martial Arts (MMA) profession, successful an NCAA title at Ohio State in 1988 and competing on the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
One other of Coleman’s daughters, Kenzie, mentioned on Instagram that Hammer woke her father up along with his barking.
Morgan Coleman has organized a gofundme.com website for her father, elevating greater than $70,000 as of Thursday afternoon.