UFC Hall of Famer and former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman has been hospitalized after a house fire.
Coleman, 59, reportedly made efforts to save both his parents and his dog from a burning house. After removing his parents, he re-entered the home for his dog but could not save the animal.
WTOL in Ohio reports that fire crews responded to the incident in Fremont just after 4 a.m. on Tuesday noting “one family member was airlifted to the hospital after trying to save the family dog”, but didn’t identify Coleman by name and said his “condition is unknown.”
His daughter Morgan posted a statement:
As many know, our dad was involved in a house fire early this morning along with his parents and beloved dog, hammer. He 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 he is currently battling for his life after this heroic act.
Our father has always been our hero and means the world to us. He is and always will be a fighter. The strongest snd 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.
Thank you for all the love and support. Hammer house for life
The WTOL report added that the roof of the house collapsed after crews entered the building with seven different fire departments responding.
The home was destroyed due to the effects of the fire.
Coleman was an NCAA Division I champion in 1988 and represented the U.S. at the Olympics in 1992, where he placed seventh. In 1996, he failed to make the Olympic team at 220 pounds, with Kurt Angle gaining the spot and winning a gold medal.
In the same year, Coleman moved to mixed martial arts and debuted at UFC 10, and won that night’s tournament. He repeated with a tournament win at UFC 11 and became the first UFC heavyweight champion in February 1997 when he beat Dan Severn at UFC 12.
After losing the title to Maurice Smith, he competed several more times in the UFC before going to PRIDE where he had his largest impact by winning the Openweight Grand Prix in 2000 including wins over Akira Shoji, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Igor Vovchanchyn in one night.
Coleman fought for PRIDE through 2006 and ended his career with the UFC with a TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, a decision win against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100, and being submitted by Randy Couture at UFC 109 in February 2010.
He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2008 as part of its Pioneer Wing, and his fight with Pete Williams at UFC 17 was added to the Hall of Fame’s Fight Wing in 2016.
