UPDATE: Saturday, November 30 at 8:05pm ET
Sources close to Del Rosario told Bleacher Report that the fighter was removed from life support on Friday night, and as of Saturday evening, he is breathing on his own and has shown encouraging signs. Brain activity has been registered, and Del Rosario also squeezed his mother’s hand on Saturday morning.
Here’s an update from Sherdog.com with comments from Del Rosario’s training partner and friend, Erik Apple:
Hospitalized UFC heavyweight Shane del Rosario is now off life support and breathing on his own, according to friend and training partner Erik Apple.
Sherdog.com confirmed the news with Apple via text message on Saturday afternoon. Ross Finkelstein initially posted a tweet on Saturday indicating that del Rosario had also registered brain activity and squeezed his mother’s hand, and Apple verified that both statements were true.
Though the news is encouraging, Apple also relayed that del Rosario, who suffered cardiac arrest on Tuesday, is still very much in a fight for his life.
“All of these are positive signs. However, we just have to be patient and wait,” Apple told Sherdog. “These are not definitive signs. They could mean something, or they could mean nothing.”
Stay tuned for the latest developments in Del Rosario’s story.
—End of Update—
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Shane Del Rosario remains on life support after suffering what doctors termed a “catastrophic cardiovascular collapse” at his California home on Tuesday.
Del Rosario was not responsive when discovered by his roommate and friend Ian McCall on Tuesday morning. McCall, who fights in the UFC’s flyweight division and trained with Del Rosario at Colin Oyama’s gym, called 911 and administered CPR.
On Wednesday evening, doctors at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif., used the Arctic Sun Treatment System on Del Rosario. The system is designed to induce a hypothermic state in the body that reportedly can help restart damaged organs and restore brain function.
Oyama provided more detailed specifics via text to Josh Gross of ESPN.com:
His body is coming around physically, his organs are slowly coming back online. Now they are working on getting his brain to kick in. They have begun to raise his core temperature in hopes that his brain will activate after approximately 15-24 hours.
Sources close to Del Rosario confirmed to Bleacher Report that he still had no brain function when the Arctic Sun treatment was completed.
Del Rosario, 30, remained on life support on Thursday, even as erroneous reports of his death began circulating via social media. The family decided to keep him on life support in the hopes of a “miracle” occurring and were planning to make what was described as a “final decision” on Friday morning.
Del Rosario was born and raised in Southern California, where he began training as a fighter at 17 years old with Marco Ruas. He became a world champion kickboxer before transitioning to mixed martial arts and made his MMA debut in 2006 for the King of the Cage promotion. He ran up an undefeated record for KOTC, M-1 and Strikeforce before a car accident left him badly injured in 2011. He was out of action for over a year but eventually returned to the cage.
Del Rosario signed with the UFC in May 2012 but lost two consecutive fights to Stipe Miocic and Pat Barry. He was expected to return in July against Dave Herman, but an injury forced him to withdraw from the bout. He was booked to return yet again at December’s UFC 168 event, but a rib injury forced him to withdraw.
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