UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman is awake and responsive in the hospital after saving his parents from a house fire in Ohio earlier this week.
Coleman’s daughter Mackenzie posted a video to the ex-fighter’s Instagram in which he saw his daughters for the first time and expressed gratitude that he and his parents were alive.
“I’m the happiest man in the world!” Coleman, 59 exclaimed in the hospital.
“I swear to God I’m so lucky. I can’t believe my parents are alive! I had to make a decision — I got out of my room and went to the door, and it was already horrible. I can’t breathe. I was outside and I went back and got them, I can’t believe it!”
He lamented that he could not find Hammer, the family dog who died in the blaze.
“God is good. Miracles do happen,” Mackenzie Coleman wrote in the caption of the Instagram video.
“Our dad is breathing on his own. We still have a long road ahead of us but we are truly thankful. We want to thank you all for the love and support from the bottom of our hearts.”
Firefighters in Fremont, Ohio, responded to calls of the blaze around 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
The fire was described as having started in the kitchen, and the home was said to be a “total loss.”
Coleman’s daughter, Morgan, posted on Instagram that her father was “battling for his life after this heroic act” of saving his parents’ lives.
Coleman had an MMA career that spanned from 1996-2010, and he became the first-ever UFC heavyweight champion when he defeated Dan Severn via neck crank submission at UFC 12.
