Josh Samman Passes Away After Five Days In Coma
The MMA world has received some incredibly sad and disheartening news this morning when word arrived that UFC middleweight Josh Samman has reportedly passed after spending five days in a coma in Southern Florida.
The sad news was confirmed by the Tallahassee Democrat today.
Samman’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 17 castmate and friend Gilbert Smith posted the following tribute on his Instagram account with the sad news earlier today:
Samman had spent the last five days in a coma after being found unresponsive Friday morning in Tallahassee, Florida. His roommate and friend, MMA announcer Troy Kirkinburg, was pronounced dead on arrival.
Samman was a unique personality in MMA who had been through an extraordinary amount of hardship in his life, including the loss of his girlfriend in a car accident in 2013 and multiple serious injuries that put his MMA career on hold on more than one occasion.
He wrote a book entitled “The Housekeeper” that detailed his struggles with coming to terms with the death of girlfriend, whom he was texting with when she got into a single-car accident, substance abuse, and the suicidal thoughts that resulted from both.
He rebounded from the rough period and picked up 2014’s “Knockout of the Year” with a picturesque head kick win over Eddie Gordon at 2014’s UFC 181 and followed it up with a submission win over Caio Magalhaes in 2015, but he had dropped his two most recent MMA bouts to Tim Boetsch and Tamdan McCrory. Samman recently stated online that he had signed to fight Oluwale Bambgose at December’s UFC Fight Night 102 from Albany, New York just last week.
Samman had also become a fan-favorite writer for BloodyElbow.com, detailing his personal fight experiences in great detail on the site.
The social media world was quick to suggest heroin overdose was the cause of both men’s deaths, but Samman’s mother clarified the speculation by revealing that no heroin had been found in her son’s system.
According to the Democrat, no foul play was suspected in a report from the HPD, who stated:
“Detectives are investigating. No more information is available at this time.”
But no matter the circumstances of his unfortunate passing, it is certain that MMA lost one of its most unique personalities today.
Our hearts go out to Samman’s family and friends in this trying time.
