There is some troubling news from the MMA world this weekend as UFC middleweight Josh Samman has reportedly been found unresponsive at a Florida apartment.
Samman, a contestant on season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter, is now fighting for his life according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat.
The report claims that the 28-year-old was found unconscious alongside roommate and friend Troy Kirkingburg, a local MMA announcer who was pronounced dead on arrival.
“I think it has taken a lot of the community and his friends by shock, completely unexpected out of the both of them,” a local friend, Joe Blackwood, told the paper. “Both are great, great people who do a lot for the community and are well-known in the community.
“It has completely blindsided everybody.”
Samman was recently scheduled to take on Oluwale Bamgbose, which would have been his first fight since his back-to-back defeats against Tamdan McCrory and Tim Boetsch.
He put together an impressive early record with the UFC, going 3-0 with three finishes before coming unstuck late last year.
Samman is an accomplished writer, having recently published his memoirs The Housekeeper: Love, Death & Prizefighting earlier this year. He is also a regular contributor to MMA news website BloodyElbow.com.
His autobiography details Samman’s troubled past with substance abuse, as well as the tragedy that befell him in 2013 when his girlfriend Hailey Bevis was killed in a car accident while the pair were texting one another.
Samman has overcome challenges in his life that not many men would be able to and we can only hope that he comes through this harrowing incident as well.
