During an appearance on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich provided a medical update on his close friend, fellow Hall of Famer Matt Hughes, who was recently involved in an accident with an oncoming train, which left him temporarily comatose.
"He is surprising the doctors," Miletich said. "He's making great leaps and he's no longer in a coma, and he's improving. It's going to be a long road. Any type of head trauma at that level, there's going to be some rehab."
Miletich also provided even more details of the accident, noting that Hughes was apparently stuck on a hill and unable to cross the track in time to avoid the train.
"The [train] engineer said, Matt had stopped on the gravel road," Miletich said. "It's a hill, goes up, it's a real quick hill that goes up to the railroad tracks. He had stopped, then tried to get across it in time. The train was going almost 50 MPH.
"When you're out in the country, there's no crossing guards, there's no lights," Miletich continued. "It's almost like, he saw it, then tried to beat it. What I would say is that, you're on a gravel road out in country on a hill and you're trying to punch it and get over, you're going to swing tires, he didn't get across in time and got clipped on the passenger side."
Hughes was airlifted to a hospital after his truck collided with a moving train on June 16. Shortly after, his sister, Beth Hughes Ulrici updated his status on her Facebook page:
Official Family Statement
Matthew Hughes, Audra Hughes, Annette Fuller, Emily Hays Hughes
Our family is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support.
Please understand that there are many false reports out there by people who say they are close to the family. We will post another update here when we have more news.
Matt is stable and has no broken bones or internal injuries. He has some minor lacerations and bruising and is currently being weaned from his ventilator. He is not yet awake and not responding as we would like to see but we see the fight in him.
Matts strength and determination along with God's Mercy and Grace will bring him through this.
We ask that you all continue to pray.
Hughes (45-9) was reportedly helping a friend during the accident. The 43-year-old fighter was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2010 and was a two-time UFC Welterweight Champion.
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