Former UFC fighter Corey Hill is fighting for his life in hospital after contracting pneumonia his wife has stated, despite reports from other sources that he had in fact passed away last night.
Reports of his death seem to have stemmed from Twitter where Hill’s friend, MMA personality, model and ring girl Jennifer Swift, claimed that he’d taken ill a few weeks ago and had been, “battling fungal pneumonia”, which led to one of his lungs collapsing and eventually resulted in doctors informing the family yesterday that, “he had no brain activity.”
The story was quickly picked up by gossip site TMZ and various other outlets followed suit, with even the UFC announcing the news of his passing.
However, Hill’s wife Lauren then informed TMZ that this was not the case, claiming that the 36 year-old was, “still alive and resting,” adding that, “My husband is a strong fighter. Please everyone pray for him.”
That resulted in the UFC deleting their announcement and other media outlets updating their story to reflect that development, while Swift (who had been vigorously defending her original claim on Twitter by revealing that it had come from a family member) also backed off her claims that he had died.
“My family member is at the hospital,” Swift wrote on Twitter. “He is indeed alive but truly needs more prayers. At this time that is all that matters.”
Corey ‘The Real Deal’ Hill found his way to the UFC in 2007 after serving as a cast-member on The Ultimate Fighter season 5 where he reached the quarter-finals stage before being defeated by Nate Diaz who would go on to win the show.
Hill only fought for the UFC three times, posting a 1-2 record over the course of 2008, but many fans will remember him clearly due to his last bout in the Octagon against Dale Hartt during a live Spike TV event, ‘UFC: Fight For The Troops’ in which the 6ft 4″ lightweight suffered a horrifying leg break.
Afterwards it was unclear whether Hill would ever fight again due to the extent of his injury, but showing the heart of a fighter he vowed to return and two years later he did just that, earning a unanimous decision victory in his comeback fight for regional New York promotion, ‘Raging Wolf’.
Hill continued fighting and in fact competed as recently as this February, compiling an overall career record of 6-9 along the way.
