UFC Hall of Famer and Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association spokesperson Randy Couture, 56, suffered a heart attack on October 23, walked himself to the hospital, successfully underwent surgery to remove a clot and insert a stent, and is back in the gym training. During an appearance thsi week on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, "The Natural" discussed what happened, and what could have happened.
It began when he puked after a training session.
“I knew something wasn’t right, because I’ve never been a puker,” said Couture, as transcribed by Nolan King for MMA Junkie. “I went home and thought, ‘Ah, I just overdid it.’ (I) laid on the bed for five minutes or so, and this ache would just not go away. I said, ‘Man, something is wrong.'”
Then he walked to the ERl where doctors did an ECG and “all hell broke loose."
“They’re like, ‘Dude, you’re having a heart attack,” said Couture. “They rushed me right up stairs to the cath lab, went in through my wrist. My thick blood had created a giant clot in my main artery – the ‘widowmaker,’ of course. I had a plaque rupture and the blood goes like it would with any wound to heal that wound. My blood is so thick it created a clot that occluded the whole artery.”
“By Thursday morning, it had gone public. TMZ did a thing on it and all that. My phone just blew up. It was amazing – overwhelming, the outpouring of love. I don’t even know what to say about that. It was pretty unbelievable. I appreciate all my fans and all the people out there that reached out to me.”
“I was lucky I came in when I came in. If I had waited another 30 or 40 minutes, it would’ve been a different outcome … Any time something like that happens, it certainly gets your attention. … To have a heart attack was strange. It just chips away at your identity a little bit. Who you are. Who you thought you were. I’m certainly happy to be back, up, and running. I’m feeling a lot more normal. A lot more like myself.”
“I think I went eight or nine rounds sparring on Friday. I feel good – a little sore from working out and getting back in the groove. Other than that, I feel great.”
