UFC heavyweight Shane del Rosario is in critical condition after suffering a heart attack Tuesday in his California home.
A statement from del Rosario’s manager, Jason House, to Bleacher Report MMA and other media sources including MMA Fighting‘s Ariel Helwani noted that del Rosario “was brought to the hospital in full cardiac arrest” Tuesday morning.
“He was resuscitated in the emergency room back to a stable heart rhythm and blood pressure,” the statement from House read. “He is currently in the coronary care unit critically ill. Our prayers are with him and his family.”
According to the MMA Fighting report, del Rosario was admitted to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif.
This is not the first injury del Rosario has suffered that carried ramifications beyond his fight career. In 2011, while fighting for the Strikeforce promotion, del Rosario suffered various injuries, including several herniated disks, after a drunk driver collided her vehicle with del Rosario’s. Later reflecting on the incident, del Rosario observed that he “could have died” as a result of the collision.
Del Rosario was set to fight Guto Inocente on Dec. 28 at UFC 168 but recently pulled out of the fight because of a rib injury. That withdrawal came after del Rosario had recovered from another injury that derailed a bout in July with Dave Herman at UFC 162.
Del Rosario, 30, is 11-2 as a professional mixed martial artist, but he also has extensive experience in other realms of combat sports. In 2007, he became the first American WBC Muay Thai world heavyweight champion. He turned pro in MMA in 2006, competing for the King of the Cage, ShoXC and M-1 promotions before moving to Strikeforce.
A fearsome knockout artist, del Rosario earned eight of his 11 pro MMA wins by way of knockout or technical knockout. His last win came in February 2011, when he submitted Lavar Johnson at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva.
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