Randy Couture details health scare: ‘Another 30 or 40 minutes, it would’ve been a different outcome’

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture said his quick action is the reason why he’s still alive today.

On Oct. 23, former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture suffered a heart attack.

Monday in an interview with ESPN,  Couture detailed the incident for the first time. The discomfort began for him in the gym. At the end of a training session, Couture felt exhausted – more so than usual. Couture knew something wasn’t right when he started vomiting

“I knew something wasn’t right, because I’ve never been a puker,” Couture said. “I went home and thought, ‘Ah, I just overdid it.’ (I) laid on the bed for five minutes or so, and this ache would just not go away. I said, ‘Man, something is wrong.'”

Instead of driving to the emergency room or calling an ambulance to take him there, Couture decided he would walk. Upon his arrival, doctors did an ECG. That’s when “all hell broke loose,” according to Couture.

“They’re like, ‘Dude, you’re having a heart attack,” Couture said. “They rushed me right up stairs to the cath lab. (They) went in through my wrist. My thick blood had created a giant clot in my main artery – the ‘widowmaker,’ of course. I had a plaque rupture and the blood goes like it would with any wound to heal that wound. My blood is so thick it created a clot that occluded the whole artery.”

Doctors sucked out the clot and inserted a stent. Couture was put on a blood thinner to stabilize the plaque in the artery. Following his discharge, Couture left the hospital on foot – the same way he came in.

Since the procedure, Couture is feeling much better.

“Jeez, I think I went eight or nine rounds sparring on Friday,” Couture said. “I feel good – a little sore from working out and getting back in the groove. Other than that, I feel great.”

[lawrence-related id=455923,443585]

When TMZ reported the news the day after the incident, a storm of calls and messages lit up Couture’s phone. He said the outpouring of support was surprising, even for a UFC Hall of Famer.

“By Thursday morning, it had gone public,” Couture said. “TMZ did a thing on it and all that. My phone just blew up. It was amazing – overwhelming, the outpouring of love. I don’t even know what to say about that. It was pretty unbelievable. I appreciate all my fans and all the people out there that reached out to me.”

The experience of enduring a heart attack has given Couture a newfound perspective on life. He’s thankful for his self-compass in the moment. Usually, he’d try to brush pain off as being nothing. But for some reason that day, Couture figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

“I was lucky I came in when I came in,” Couture said. “If I had waited another 30 or 40 minutes, it would’ve been a different outcome … Any time something like that happens, it certainly gets your attention

“… To have a heart attack was strange. It just chips away at your identity a little bit. Who you are. Who you thought you were. I’m certainly happy to be back, up, and running. I’m feeling a lot more normal. A lot more like myself.”

[vertical-gallery id=343646]

Alex Reyes won’t let spinal infection derail UFC dreams: ‘I know the odds are against me’

Over the span of five days, Alex Reyes lost his ability to walk. Almost two years later, he’s eyeing a return to the UFC.

Even though it’s become the new normal over the past year-and-a-half, it’s still tough for [autotag]Alex Reyes[/autotag] to talk about.

Reyes understandably has chosen to keep relatively silent – until now.

The UFC lightweight and older brother of Dominick Reyes, Alex hasn’t competed since his promotional debut in September 2017 – a loss suffered at the hands of Mike Perry. The fight was one Reyes took on mere days’ notice – up a weight class, against a then-surging knockout artist.

Reyes was booked for his sophomore UFC outing in March 2018 – a fight against Nasrat Haqparast in London. A full camp was in order this time around. He’d fight at his usual 155-pound weight class.

Perfect. Life seemed good.

After 10 years on the regional scene, Reyes finally settled into where he always hoped to be. His goal shifted from making it to the big show, to proving his worth there. He was enjoying life as a coach, a father, a husband. Everything was going right. But things soon went haywire.

“I was feeling pretty positive about my career and everything going on in my life,” Reyes told MMA Junkie. “I feel like everything was ripped out from under me. Just that feeling of helplessness.”

In the end, he never entered the cage in London.

Like many fighters, Reyes had suffered his fair share of wear-and-tear injuries from all the battles in the gym and cage. A competitor at the highest level, Reyes wanted to find a solution. So he turned to stem cell injections from a company called Genentech.

After the first injection, the pain did not subside. So he got a second one. In the days that followed, Reyes began to notice the pain wasn’t improving – it was actually getting worse.

And worse.

And worse.

Five days later, Reyes couldn’t walk. Something clearly was wrong with him.

“On June 30, I got the injection. By July 4, I couldn’t walk anymore,” Reyes said. “When people say you can’t walk anymore, people say, ‘What do you mean you couldn’t walk?’ I was in excruciating pain to where my body wasn’t stable. I couldn’t even sit down. I couldn’t roll over in bed. I could move my toes and my legs, but the pain in my spine in my lower back was so unstable and inflamed and spasming. It was excruciating.”

* * * *

A living hell

The medical professionals’ assessment deemed this normal. Reyes was told not to worry and sent on his way. But as he progressively deteriorated, even the most passive physician could determine something wasn’t right.

“Talking to the doctors, they were telling me that it’s normal. ‘We did a lot of work. It’s normal.’ But I did this before, and it wasn’t like this. What’s normal?” Reyes said. “I stayed that way for three-and-a-half weeks on a bedpan. They kept telling me, ‘You’re in the 30 percent range where you experience pain for more than two weeks.’ Then I dropped down to ‘the 15 percent,’ and then I dropped down to ‘the 10 percent.’ After six weeks, they’re like, ‘You’re on the one percent.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, God.’ Everything was going wrong.”

So what was the cause of all this agony? After an MRI, Reyes was diagnosed with a rare but serious spinal infection – osteomyelitis. The injection he received was tainted with E. coli, among other nastiness. Even with a fighter-level of tolerance, Reyes’ pain was intolerable.

“As fighters, we know how to push,” Reyes said. “We have tough weight cuts. We have tough practices. … Preparing for MMA fights for five rounds can be grueling. I knew how to push myself. And the whole time, I’m trying to tell myself my body is rebuilding. ‘This is OK. I gotta keep pushing. I gotta keep pushing.’ But, man, it wasn’t getting better.”

The next few weeks were nothing short of a living hell. The pain was bad enough, but the mental and emotional anguish? Brutal.

Unable to function, Reyes lost his independence. He relied on his wife, Rosalie, to help him with everything, including when he had to use a bedpan. She had to take care of him “like an infant.”

“My wife really stuck by me, supported, and took care of me,” Reyes said. “She had to give me sponge baths, because I couldn’t stand or sit in the shower, and she cared for me like an infant. Going from a high level athlete, leader, and provider to having to be cared for like an infant because I couldn’t take care of myself? Mentally, that was extremely hard to accept.”

The mental side of things was unforgiving. While trying to live the life of a normal, functioning person, Reyes couldn’t help but picture where he could be – where he should be. It was heartbreaking.

“Mentally, I feel like the train has left without me,” Reyes said. “Where I could be, right now in the UFC, and where I should be, compared to where I am. That’s the hardest part – trying not to let that get me down.”

But Reyes stuck with his recovery regimen. Even with progress, complications reared their heads when his IV stints began to consistently get blocked with clots.

“I (was) taking tons of pain pills and medicine,” Reyes said. “It was just horrible. Then on top of that, my IV pick line kept getting blood clots. I kept having to go in so they could remove that and take it out. They kept checking for blood clots in my arteries. It was just a mess. I’m still getting drips, but that’s what happened.”

* * * *

Adjusting to the new normal

Some of Reyes’ pain subsided through months of IV therapy – five-and-a-half months of three to four infusions a day, to be exact. Despite the decrease in physical distress, Reyes has been told he’ll carry this infection with him for the rest of his life.

“The crazy thing about this is that it never completely goes away,” Reyes said. “The infection in your spine, osteomyelitis – it goes dormant. You’ve just got to pay attention to it even though the infection isn’t active right now. I guess it can come back, and I just have to pay attention to that.”

Reyes still has obstacles to overcome. He still experiences pain as he attempts to build back up to peak athletic form. CBD has helped Reyes get off the pain pills. He’s stretching and strengthening his core through physical therapy.

With no specific finish line for his recovery, keeping a “day-to-day” focus isn’t easy. But he’s keeping an optimistic, positive mindset – which he credits his support group for helping him maintain.

“I’m improving, which I’m blessed and fortunate,” Reyes said. “I still have a lot of support with my close friends and family. It’s really discouraging at times – a helpless feeling. My manager checks up on me every week. Jason House calls and checks in on how I’m doing, asking if there’s anything he can do to help me out.

“… They say ‘to fail to plan is to plan to fail.’ So I’m planning to succeed. I’m setting goals, staying positive and keep pushing towards them as much as I can. That’s the only way I can look at it. If I try to look at it any other way and just wallow and feel sorry for myself, I’m not going to get any better. I’m not going to improve.”

* * * *

Fighting back

Reyes, 33, wasn’t the only one who suffered because of those injections. He’s not sure of the exact number, but has heard as many as 60 others could have been affected.

Despite the conserved effort to sue the company in question, the lawsuit was dropped after Genentech owner Edwin Pinos allegedly fled the country. Now, Reyes hopes to spread awareness for those who were affected but don’t have the same platform.

“I’m not that person looking for people to feel sorry for me,” Reyes said. “At least for other people out there, getting the word out can help others make that decision. I guess for the people who didn’t get to interview or speak about it or didn’t get their stories heard about this guy and how he operated his company, you know?”

Through his entire ordeal, Reyes has promised himself to make it back to where he belongs in the UFC. Perhaps in February or March, but no pressure. His self-belief is what has led him to all of his successes: a black belt, a jiu-jitsu title, two regional titles, and a UFC contract. So why should he change that?

“The possibilities are I know the odds are against me – but there’s nothing that’s stopped me yet completely,” Reyes said. “… God willing, I can get back in there and compete at the highest level. It’s a dream I want to achieve for my students, for my son. Anything is possible with support and belief in yourself, just chasing your dream and a goal. A passion that I have – I still have that.

“I will get back in there and make that walk to the octagon.”

[vertical-gallery id=466129]

MMA rankings report: What does Michael Page need to do to make our list?

MMA Junkie’s “Gorgeous” George Garcia and John Morgan walk you through our latest MMA rankings.

Bellator Europe 6 is in the books, and we’re about to come up on a brief period of inactivity from the major promotions. But one thing of note took place this past Saturday:

  • [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] won again at Bellator Europe 6, giving him two straight since the lone loss of his career. Yet it’s still not enough for the 16-1 fighter to crack our welterweight list. Why is that?
  • Plus, who’s coming up on two years of inactivity – and ready to fall out of our rankings?

What does this all mean for our weekly USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings? Let MMA Junkie’s “Gorgeous” George Garcia and John Morgan walk you through the changes in the video above.

Former UFC champ Chris Weidman wants quick turnaround, thinks he’s still capable of big things

Chris Weidman is not done yet and is looking to make a quick turnaround in early 2020.

[autotag]Chris Weidman[/autotag] is not ready to back down from his recent setbacks.

Despite being stopped in five of his past six fights, most recently a first-round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes, Weidman (14-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) reiterated he has no plans of retiring. In fact, he’s looking to make a quick turnaround and hopes to compete in early 2020.

“In a perfect world – I mean, I’m healthy already – February, March, something like that,” Weidman said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “Yeah pretty quick. Listen, I know it sounds crazy: ‘You just got knocked out, what are you coming back quick for?’ But it wasn’t like I got knocked out cold. Literally, like, legs went out from underneath me, he was hitting me with shots, and I remember the whole thing. I had no concussion symptoms like I’ve had concussion symptoms over the years from some of my fights. And you know when your brain needs a rest. This time, it wasn’t that situation at all.”

Weidman, a former UFC middleweight champion, failed to make good on his light heavyweight debut against Reyes in October, and admitted he’s not sure if he’ll remain at 205 or go back down 185 pounds.

“I could make (1)85 again,” he said. “205 was fun. It was less stressful, and I feel like I could beat anybody up , but we’ve just got to look at the divisions and figure it out. So I’m not sure if I’m going to go back down to ’85 or stay at 205.”

With an array of accolades on his resume, the man who once shocked the world by dethroning one of the greatest fighters of all time in Anderson Silva still believes he has some magic left in him.

And he’s not ready to walk away just yet.

“(I’m) definitely continuing to fight – that’s not a question at all,” Weidman said. “I feel great. You know, I’ve been through (expletive) in this career. At the end of the day, when I do retire, I know I gave everything to this sport. I gave everything to the sport of wrestling. I’ve been through hell. From my body, I’ve had 23 surgeries – but I feel good right now. That sounds crazy, but I feel really good. My body feels good. The fact that I could get right back to training and do what I love to do, I just feel like I’m still capable of some big things.”

[vertical-gallery id=453309]

Josh Emmett vs. Arnold Allen added to UFC Raleigh

A featherweight matchup between Josh Emmett and Arnold Allen is the latest addition to the UFC Raleigh card.

[vertical-gallery id=422426]

A pair of rising featherweight contenders will square off on Jan. 25.

[autotag]Josh Emmett[/autotag] (15-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) will face [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at UFC Raleigh, the promotion announced Wednesday morning.

The event is scheduled to take place at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., and is expected to stream on ESPN+.

Since moving down to 145 pounds, Emmett has won four of five fights and is coming off back-to-back knockouts over Michael Johnson and, most recently, a “Performance of the Night” over Mirsad Bektic in July. The Team Alpha Male fighter will look to make it three in a row when he takes on the streaking Allen.

Allen has not yet lost in the UFC, going a perfect 6-0. The 25-year-old Brit is coming off the biggest win of his career, a unanimous decision victory over former Strikeforce and WEC lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at UFC 239 in July.

[opinary poll=”who-do-you-think-wins-between-arnold-all” customer=”mmajunkie”]

With the addition, the UFC Raleigh lineup includes:

  • Curtis Blaydes vs. Junior Dos Santos
  • Frankie Edgar vs. Cory Sandhagen
  • Justine Kish vs. Lucie Pudilova
  • Alen Amedovski vs. Bevon Lewis
  • Jamahal Hill vs. Darko Stosic
  • Felipe Colares vs. Montel Jackson
  • Herbert Burns vs. Nate Landwehr
  • Tony Gravely vs. Brett Johns
  • Lina Lansberg vs. Sara McMann
  • Brianna Van Buren vs. Hannah Cifers
  • Michael Chiesa vs. Rafael dos Anjos
  • Arnold Allen vs. Josh Emmett

[vertical-gallery id=420269]

Bellator Europe 6 free fight: Relive Soren Bak’s win over Terry Brazier

A former two-weight-class Cage Warriors champ took on a former two-weight BAMMA champ inside the Bellator cage.

Saturday’s Bellator London event was the company’s final European card of the year, and with it came a bunch of consequential results.

That includes what amounted to a battle for U.K. bragging rights between former two-division Cage Warriors champion [autotag]Soren Bak[/autotag], and former two-weight BAMMA champ [autotag]Terry Brazier[/autotag].

Bak earned his way to a unanimous-decision victory at SSE Arena in London, to the disapproval of the crowd who were rooting a local product in Brazier.

[lawrence-related id=465498,464828]

After the fight, Bak said he was okay with the crowd’s hate, and even fed off it.

“I kind of feed on it, I love it,” Bak told MMA Junkie. “I could do without the beer throwing in Liverpool, but there was none of that here, it was just booing. I can live with that.”

So what exactly raised the crowd’s ire? Well, Bellator has made the lightweight fight free for all to watch, so check out the video above to see the exciting Bellator matchup.

[vertical-gallery id=465565]

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Nov. 26: Is Michael Page ready?

Michael Page picked up another win this past Saturday – but was it enough to get him into our welterweight rankings?

[autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] picked up another win this past Saturday – but it came with some controversy.

There wasn’t controversy over how Page (16-1 MMA, 12-1 BMMA) beat Giovanni Melillo (13-5 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) – by first-round knockout. But instead, the Bellator welterweight continued to take criticism for the level of opponents he’s been in the cage with so far in his career.

Page has been in the cage with some standouts like Paul Daley and David Rickels, and has wins over them. But his resume also includes names like Melillo, Richard Kiely and Jeremie Holloway who are unheralded, to put it mildly.

Page’s lone loss came by knockout against Douglas Lima in Bellator’s welterweight tournament. Lima went on to win the tournament and the title. And before that, his win over Daley was a unanimous decision, and some had Daley winning.

So with his latest win at Bellator Europe 6 at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London, has Page done enough to break into our USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings?

Check out the latest rankings in the drop-down menu above.

Nordine Taleb says next UFC bout will be retirement fight

Nordine Taleb apparently has decided when his MMA career will come to an end.

It appears [autotag]Nordine Taleb[/autotag] will soon hang up his gloves.

The 38-year-old UFC welterweight announced Tuesday on Twitter that he is retiring after his next fight. Taleb (15-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is not currently booked, but he recently competed in September where he suffered a first-round knockout to Muslim Salikhov.

[lawrence-related id=439518,291635]

Taleb has been fighting professionally since 2007. The Frenchman holds notable wins over Pete Sell, Li Jingliang, Erick Silva, and Danny Roberts. Taleb, who also competed under the Bellator banner, has been in the UFC since 2014.

Below is Taleb’s announcement:

Hi everyone, after thinking for a while about it, I took the decision that my next UFC fight will be my retirement fight. It was a hell of a ride and I’m very grateful for it! See you soon for the last ride.

[vertical-gallery id=405489]

Plot thickens as UFC tries to book Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson

Here’s hoping the “games” – whatever they might be – stop, everybody gets what they want, and this fight gets finalized.

On Monday, UFC broadcast partner ESPN cited Dana White in reporting that the promotion is targeting a planned April 18 pay-per-view card in Brooklyn to book a highly anticipated title fight between lightweight champion [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] and [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag].

Not long after, Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, posted a photo on Instagram of a purported signed bout agreement by the champ.

As for Ferguson, we heard nothing from him directly. But when MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn reached out to his management group, he was told both parties are “in late stages of negotiations.” Now, that could mean just about anything, but one thing was looking likely: One side wanted to put pressure on the other.

You see where this is going?

Fast forward to Tuesday evening, nearly 24 hours after the news put out there by White and Abdelaziz, and we finally heard from Ferguson himself on Twitter.

No more games. I’m open for business. Time to give the fans what they want 🕶 Champ Shit Only™️ 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 @danawhite @ballengeegroupmma # makeufcgreatagain

You read that? “No more games. I’m open for business.” That might tell us all we need to know about how these negotiations are going:

Who’s playing games and why?

[protected-iframe id=”22030e354c0bf4f16237d2ba7d2d5306-58289362-58194562″ info=”https://giphy.com/embed/l4JyX3V0yydvPHNBe” width=”480″ height=”260″ frameborder=”0″ class=”giphy-embed” allowfullscreen=””]

There’s no question we want to see this fight finally happen after four previously failed attempts. We need to see this fight happen. So here’s hoping the games – whatever they might be – stop, everybody gets what they want, and this thing gets finalized.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

[vertical-gallery id=390685]

T.J. Dillashaw wants Floyd Mayweather boxing match upon UFC return

“I’ve got a whole year to reinvent myself.”

Add [autotag]T.J. Dillashaw[/autotag] to the mix of fighters who want to square off with Floyd Mayweather.

Speaking to ESPN on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dillashaw, who’s currently serving a two-year suspension after testing positive for EPO, said he’s not looking for any tune-up fights upon his return.

And with Mayweather announcing he will be coming out of retirement in 2020 with plans to work with UFC president Dana White, Dillashaw thinks he has enough time to prepare for a boxing match, considering that he will be eligible to compete again on Jan. 18, 2021.

“Mayweather wants a UFC star thats good at striking,” Dillashaw said. “I’ve got a whole year to reinvent myself to become a boxer. I’ve got the who’s-who in the boxing world. I can train with the Lomachenkos, Terence Crawfords – he ain’t going to be able to wear me out and finish me because of my cardio. I think that’s a very intriguing fight. I’d love to get that Mayweather fight, not even for the money – just for the fact of proving us UFC fighters (have) got what it takes to get in that ring.”

Dillashaw, who’s been seen training with boxing world champ Vasyl Lomachenko on numerous occasions, thinks he has the access to fully prepare for a boxing match, and is confident that he would do well.

“I think Conor McGregor did a great job of showing what we can do, and that our movements are awkward and that it’s tough for (boxers) to deal with, and I’ve seen it myself in the boxing world,” Dillashaw said. “I go and train out at Joel Diaz’s in Indio, (Calif.) I’m going to train with the Lomachenkos. I’ve seen Terence Crawford’s camp. I think that would be a super intriguing thing to get involved in, and I’ve got the time to do it.”

[opinary poll=”who-would-win-a-boxing-match-between-flo” customer=”mmajunkie”]

[vertical-gallery id=391979]