WATCH | Bellator’s Cris Lencioni takes his first steps since suffering brain injury from cardiac arrest

By Cole Shelton - July 4, 2023

Cris Lencioni has started to walk again.

Cris Lencioni

Lencioni – who fights for Bellator – recently had a cardiac arrest while he was practicing which resulted in brain damage. After being in a coma, he was released from ICU as he started to get healthier. It was massive news that Lencioni was starting to get healthy – as doctors told Lencoini’s wife only around 10 percent of people survive what happened to him.

Not only is Cris Lencioni getting better and out of ICU, but on Sunday he took his first steps from the accident. The video was shared by the family to MMAFighting.

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/1676312696365678592

“He’s making progress really fast,” Marca Lencioni said about her husband Cris Lencioni. “It’s sheer will and determination.”

Although Cris Lencioni has taken his first steps, he still will remain in the hospital for the time being. That will only add to the medical bills which Marca revealed is over $300k which is why they started a GoFundMe to help with it.

“He’s still got a while until he’s ready to leave, and we are still looking into alternative treatment options,” Marca said about Cris Lencioni. “They dropped the [long-term acute care hospital] center after seeing how quickly he was progressing. But it was the same with the defibrillator. At one point they weren’t going to do that for him, because they weren’t sure of where he was cognitively. But he’s young, and he’s doing really well now, so the tune has changed.”

The hope is Cris Lencioni can receive stem cells to help his recovery even further. But, the good news, is he is doing much better and is now walking. Hopefully, he can get out of the hospital soon and eventually make a full recovery.

Cris Lencioni is 11-3 as a pro and is 6-2 in Bellator. He currently is on a four-fight win streak which included a win over UFC veteran Drako Rodriguez.


Topics:

Bellator Cris Lencioni