Tyrell Fortune’s journey to the UFC nearly ended before it began when a catastrophic weight cut left him clinically dead in 2012. The heavyweight prospect, who made his octagon debut at 35 against Marcin Tybura in Seattle, carries scars from an experience that fundamentally changed how he approaches life and fighting.
The Fatal Weight Cut That Changed Everything
Picture this: a young wrestler desperate to compete at 211 pounds instead of heavyweight, cutting 27 pounds in six days through starvation and dangerous dehydration methods. Fortune’s amateur wrestling career nearly became his obituary when his body simply shut down at weigh-ins.
“I started cutting the week before,” Fortune recalls with the clarity that only comes from surviving the impossible. “Six days to lose 27 pounds. I gave myself a bottle of water, a grain bar and a cup of mandarin oranges. Those were my meals.”
The former NCAA Division II national champion at Grand Canyon University pushed his body beyond breaking point. Furthermore, when traditional methods failed, he turned to an Epsom salt bath with rubbing alcohol—a decision that nearly cost him everything.
Clinically Dead: The Moment Everything Stopped
What happened next reads like something from a medical thriller. At the water fountain, Fortune collapsed into seizures, foaming at the mouth whilst remaining horrifyingly conscious throughout the ordeal. His coach’s motivational speeches turned to desperate pleas as the situation spiralled beyond control.
“The scariest part is that I could physically hear and see everything, but I couldn’t control my body,” Fortune explains. The ambulance journey became a race against time as his organs began failing systematically.
Medical professionals pronounced him dead after his heart stopped responding to four defibrillator attempts. Covered head-to-toe with a sheet in the hospital, Fortune experienced what he describes as “nothing but coldness and emptiness” during those crucial minutes between life and death.
Living Every Day Like It’s Borrowed Time
The experience fundamentally altered Fortune’s worldview, stripping away religious certainties and replacing them with urgent purpose. “This is the only life you get,” he states with conviction born from literally dying and returning. “You don’t have a second chance, so give it everything you have.”
That philosophy drove Fortune through a journeyman career in Bellator MMA before his UFC breakthrough against Tybura on just two weeks’ notice. At 35, he embodies the fighter who truly understands what it means to live on borrowed time.
Fortune’s story serves as both cautionary tale and inspiration—proof that sometimes the most dangerous opponent we face isn’t across the cage, but staring back at us in the mirror. His near-death experience didn’t just save his life; it gave it meaning.