Former UFC champ Randy Couture leaves hospital after surgery for heart attack

(Courtesy of TMZSports / Video may be limited by broadcast restrictions in certain areas.)

Former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Randy Couture suffered a heart attack earlier this week, but he has already had surgery and left the hospital under his own power.

Couture issued a statement about his condition via his attorney, Sam Spira, to ESPN on Friday.

“Contrary to recent rumors, I have not kicked the bucket yet. I am alive and well. Special thanks to the amazing staff at Cedars Sinai Hospital. From the ER to cardiac ICU, thanks for taking care of me. I’m one of those people that has crazy thick blood and nominally high bad cholesterol. Unfortunately, those two factors combined to create a nice c lot occluding my diagonal artery. The Cath Lab got right on it, cleared it out and placed a stint in its place. Thanks to all of you out there expressing your concern. Your love and support mean the world to me and my family. Live your lives to the fullest. You never know when you’ll draw that last breath in!”

Couture had been working out at his Holloywood gym, Unbreakable Performance, when he experienced discomfort that he chalked up to a potential offset rib or vertebrae. He proceeded to walk multiple blocks to a nearby emergency room, where the staff did an EKG and informed him he had a heart attack.

He immediately had surgery and left the hospital under his own power, as you can see in the above TMZ Sports video.

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Update on Randy Couture’s condition from Couture himself and his manager/lawyer Sam Spira after news broke yesterday that he suffered a heart attack and had to undergo emergency surgery. pic.twitter.com/JuSM1tZUW1

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 25, 2019