UFC featherweight fighter Matt Grice remains in critical condition and in the intensive care unit at the University of Oklahoma Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday.
The fighter, best known for his incredible battle with Dennis Bermudez at UFC 157, is expected to undergo more brain scans, possibly on Tuesday. Grice had emergency brain surgery on Sunday shortly after he was rear-ended while at a red light while driving in Shawnee, Okla. There are some positive signs, in the sense his eye movement is responsive to light and there is brain wave activity, but his condition remains critical.
“The swelling on his brain needed to go down in order to run more brain scans, and that happened last night,” said Grice’s friend Bryan O’Rourke of the local Battleground MMA promotion.. “We won’t know more until later today or tomorrow.”
Grice, who has a 15-5 MMA record and was one of the greatest high school wrestlers to ever come out of Oklahoma, is also an Oklahoma City police officer.
According to the report from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the accident took place at about 4 p.m. local time Sunday. Grice, who was off duty and was not wearing a seat belt, was the lone passenger in his jeep and was stopped at a red light in Shawnee, Okla. He was then hit from behind by a car driven by 53-year-old Michael Monroe of Oklahoma City, who said he had been distracted by a passenger in his car. He had two young children in the car, one of which was hospitalized with a head injury and is in good condition. Monroe and the other passenger were not injured. Grice’s Jeep hit another Jeep in front of him. There were two passengers in that car, one of which was treated for a neck injury and released that night. The other passenger wasn’t injured.
Grice’s manager Daniel Rubenstein tweeted that Grice’s wife said he was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
O’Rourke said the company’s Oct. 26 show at the Thunderbird Casino in Norman, Okla. will be a fundraiser for Grice and his wife Caroline. The couple has two daughters.
Grice had been scheduled to fight Jeremy Larsen at UFC 166 on Oct. 19 in Houston. It would have been his first fight since losing a split decision to Bermudez in what is generally viewed as one of the best MMA fights of the year.
Update: The original story said Grice was in a medically induced coma, but he’s just currently being sedated, according to a source.