While the weekend will go down as one of the most exciting thanks to the exciting Bellator 186 and UFC 217 cards, a serious tragedy nearly occurred Friday Night at Legacy Fighting Alliance 26.
CJ Hancock, who suffered a second round TKO loss to Charlie Ontiveros on the card, collapsed a short time after getting kicked in the midsection and was unresponsive.
That’s when cutman David Maldonado entered the cage alongside commission doctors to stabilize the fighter before he was taken away and worked on by local EMT’s.
One time UFC fighter Mike Jackson was at the event and he posted the following on Twitter about the cutman who helped save Hancock’s life:
Shout out to my guy @CompleteCutman. The @LFAfighting cutman saved a fighter’s life when he went into cardiac arrest. #LFA26 @AXSTVFights pic.twitter.com/pkA2zsh5pl
— Mike Jackson, Esq. (@TheTruthJackson) November 4, 2017
Hancock would take to Facebook after being revived and he said the following about the whole situation:
"Well I died tonight in the cage.... I'm okay. Thanks everyone. I'll reply when I can. My heart stopped, and I had kidney failure , they did cpr and hit me with the defibrillator twice and brought me back. Still unsure why it happened. I had a hard weight cut. Doc says I shouldn't fight again.... I'm broken , I guess I'll just be a coach from now on.... I still plan on competing in Brazilian Jiu jitsu and BJJ superfights , when I get better. Thanks to everyone that supported me!"
Ed Soares is the CEO of the LFA and he issued the following statement to MMA Fighting on the situation:
"It's a very unfortunate situation where C.J. Hancock took a body kick during his fight. After the kick landed, there was a few second delay, and then he collapsed in the cage. Our cutman David Maldonado immediately recognized the problem and signaled to the medical team sitting cageside. They were able to resuscitate and stabilize C.J. and took him to the hospital via ambulance where they determined he had suffered kidney failure. C.J. is currently recovering and in the company of his friends and family."
The fighter is current at the Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas and he is expected to make a full recovery.
