Dodson releases statement after ‘near death’ accident

John Dodson during his UFC flyweight title fight with Demetrious Johnson in 2015. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Jon Dodson, along with his family, was involved in a multi-car accident and v…


UFC 191: Demetrious Johnson v John Dodson 2
John Dodson during his UFC flyweight title fight with Demetrious Johnson in 2015. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Jon Dodson, along with his family, was involved in a multi-car accident and vehicle roll-over last night.

UFC veteran, and former flyweight title challenger, John Dodson and his family are OK after a terrifying ordeal on a Texas highway last night.

According to Dodson, he and his family hit an immobilized vehicle that was stranded in the road—with no lights on—after it had hit an 18-wheeler. Dodson’s car rolled over and sustained a great deal of damage. However, Dodson and his family escaped that wreck without any serious injuries.

Dodson’s manager Ricky Kottenstette posted an image of Dodson’s vehicle, which was totalled in the crash, on Instagram. Kottenstatte also set-up a gofundme campaign for financial assistance on behalf of the Dodson family. The accident has forced Dodson to withdraw from his July 30th fight at an XMMA event.

On Facebook (per MMA Fighting) Dodson wrote that he and his family are lucky to be alive.

Just letting everyone know we’re all alive and no one is seriously injured. The car we hit was left in the middle of the highway after that person hit an 18 wheel and another car crashed into it as well. He had no Hazzards light, no flares and no other warning to let us know. I hit the car and we rolled. I don’t know how many times but luckily the cables in the median stopped us from rolling onto traffic going the other direction. The guy fled on foot after he saw my vehicle rolled.. I gotta thank infinite for the design of the suv cuz it protected my family and I from dying. We’re just lucky no one died and we can live to see another day and be reminded on how luck we are. Life is short and you don’t know when it’s gonna end so enjoy it while you can.

If you guys wanna help us out there is a gofundme account that one of my friends have created to help us out since I’m outta my fight for July 30th. Thank you everyone for checking up on us and we’re just lucky.

Dodson is a two-time former UFC flyweight title challenger and The Ultimate Fighter winner. He joined the UFC through TUF in 2011, knocking out T.J. Dillashaw in the season 14 finale to claim the tournament victory.

Dodson’s title challenges both came against Demetrious Johnson. The first of those was in 2013, with Dodson losing via unanimous decision. The second was at UFC 191 in 2015 with Dodson again losing via unanimous decision.

‘The Magician’’s last UFC appearance was at UFC 252 last August. There he lost via unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili. He was released from the promotion shortly after. He appeared for the UFC 17 times and holds a overall record of 21-12.