UPDATED 3/18, 8:45 p.m. ET: UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman appears to be on the road to recovery following his release from the hospital after saving his parents from a house fire in their family home.
"I am healing up very well," Coleman wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. "My lungs are sore. My eyes are burnt but I’m very much alive and well."
The post was accompanied by a video where the UFC legend expressed his appreciation for the outpouring of love and support in response to his heroic act.
Coleman recently visited UFC fighter Matt Brown at the Immortal Martial Arts facility in Ohio. He expressed a desire to get back into a routine, but promised that he was still taking it easy.
Coleman experienced a bit of a setback over the weekend when he returned to the hospital following his initial release, as he was experiencing chest pains and numbness in his arms while at home. He was diagnosed with pneumonia.
The family's GoFundMe for Coleman's recovery shot past a $50,000 goal and has currently raised $121,775 from 2,600 donors.
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UFC legend Mark Coleman was hospitalized after rescuing his parents from their burning home in Ohio Tuesday morning.
Coleman, 59, was visiting his parents when he was woken up by their dog Hammer, as told by his daughters Morgan and Kenzie on their GoFundMe. The UFC Hall of Famer immediately took action and managed to get his mother and father out first before going back in to retrieve Hammer, who sadly did not survive.
Coleman was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he is reportedly intubated and sedated, according to a Facebook post by his longtime friend and fellow UFC fighter Wes Sims. The family's GoFundMe indicates Coleman is in need of "lots of prayer to get his lungs clear," suggesting he suffered from smoke inhalation. The page has raised more than $59,000, surpassing its $50K goal, via 1,200 donors
His daughter Morgan shared on Instagram that her father is "battling for his life after this heroic act."
"Our father has always been our hero and means the world to us," Morgan added. "He is and always will be a fighter. The strongest snd bravest man I know. Please continue to pray for him and our family during this extremely difficult time. We will miss our sweet hammer so deeply."
Sims wrote of Coleman, "I swear to GOD-he's one of the toughest individual ever created, been thru so much a Movie at this point could not give his life work Justice."
Kenzie took to Instagram to remember Hammer.
In 1997, Coleman defeated Dan Severn to became the first UFC heavyweight champion. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at UFC 82 just over a decade later.
