UFC Legend Randy Couture Hospitalized after Massive Heart Attack

By: Jesse Donathan

If there was a Mt. Rushmore of mixed martial arts, Randy Couture would have a seat at the table, for sure, no questions asked, it’s not even debatable. This much is true today and a hundred years from now, simply put, Couture is a verifiable legend in the sport of mixed martial arts. On Thursday, news of the mixed martial arts legends reported massive heart attack struck the MMA community like a Brock Lesnar ham-fisted sandwich, sparking fears and concern the world over for the UFC Hall of Famers health and wellbeing.

“But I’m sitting in the fighter meeting, I get a text message, it says, ‘Randy Couture suffered a massive heart attack and is in the hospital, TMZ reports.’ Oh my goodness,” explains ESPN MMA analyst Chael Sonnen in his October 25, 2019 YouTube video titled, “Randy Couture’s heart attack proves just how tough he is….” According to the Sonnen, who is a former training partner of Couture’s at the legendary Team Quest, “So I stopped the meeting. And another guy in the meeting was Big John (McCarthy). ‘Big John, I just got this news about Randy, I’m going this way, you go that way, lets find out who can find out information,’” Sonnen explained of his conversation with the well-known referee and current Bellator fight commentator.

Photo Credit: Randy Couture Twitter Account

“So, I go straight to Randy. Now when I went to Randy, I never thought in a million years (that) I’m going to hear back from him if its true. If its not true, he will go, ‘Oh, I don’t know where that rumor came from.’ So, I go to Randy, Big John goes to Randy’s significant other and they were both very responsive,” said Sonnen. “I hear right away from Randy. And he says, “Oh, I had a little heart issue, I’ll be out of here tomorrow.” Which as Sonnen explained, was somewhat re-assuring news considering the TMZ report.

“So John gets back, so I share what I got with John and then John shares what he got with me, and his was a little more, you know, the significant other is a little bit more worried, but we still thought we were out of the woods on this massive heart attack thing,” the ESPN MMA analyst said. Continuing, “So, then it catches on, it’s getting all over the news, words getting out, phones are lighting up. Go towards the end of my day and I see Jay Glazer. Well Glazer and Randy work out of the Unbreakable gym. And Glazer was like, ‘Oh Chael, let me tell you the story from the beginning.”

What would follow next is a testament to exactly what kind of man Randy Couture actually is, which is one tough, son of a gun. According to Sonnen, who relayed the story as originally told to him by Glazer, “He said, ‘Randy didn’t have some heart attack and an ambulance gets called and he goes to the hospital. He said, ‘Bro, he had a heart attack at my gym. He had a heart attack. He was telling us, ‘Oh, my heart, my chest, I’m having something going on in my chest.’’ He went and got a foam roller and tried to roll it out. He tried to roll out a heart attack, oh I should add for you, said Sonnen, he then finished the work out. He then walks to the hospital himself, no ambulance, no ride, doesn’t even tell anybody, walks himself into the hospital.

“They immediately perform an operation,” said Sonnen. “They put a stint in, they inform he has had a massive heart attack, they inform him that he has some kind of clotting, and they have some kind of with his blood. And Jay is now at the hospital visiting. And they come in and they ask Randy, ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, where’s your pain?’ And Randy says, ‘Oh, about a 2.’ And they go, ‘Okay, at the time of the heart attack, on a scale of 1 to 10, where was the pain?’ And Randy says, ‘Oh, 4.’

“And Jay goes, ‘Damnit, don’t ask him, quit, you ask me ques…, don’t ask him any questions, this is the toughest guy you’ve ever met. He doesn’t even know what an 8 or a 9 is,’” said Sonnen with a laugh.

In giving an update on Couture’s health, Sonnen went on to explain, “So Randy is doing okay, that is the point of my story, but the fact that he had a heart attack, tried to get it out with a foam roller, finished the work out and then walked to the hospital and informed the doctor he was in almost no pain, I think tells you all you need to know about the heart of Randy Couture.”

Among the most recent updates on Couture’s health include an October 25, 2019 Twitter social media post from ESPN MMA journalist Ariel Helwani. According to the long time MMA personality, “Randy Couture has been discharged from the hospital, less than two days after suffering a heart attack.” Incredibly, Helwani went on to add, Couture walked home just the same as he did when he checked himself into the hospital, according to the report. Whether this is an indication of how close Couture lives to the medical facility or if the aging fighter has fell on hard times financially remains to be seen, though with reports of Couture in the gym and working out, its clear the desire to compete still burns in the legendary fighters soul whatever the case may be.