"He's the real immortal one!" - UFC welterweight considers retiring his nickname and passing it to Mark Coleman for his heroic actions

Mark Coleman, an MMA pioneer, has received universal praise in the sport after, on Tuesday, saving his parents from a house fire, which left him hospitalized. The enormity of his sacrifice was such that a UFC welterweight took to X, where he revealed that he was considering giving up his alias.

Known as 'The Immortal' to fans, Matt Brown has expressed a willingness to instead give the nickname to Coleman in honor of his heroics, which were revealed by his daughter, Morgan. The MMA legend was airlifted to a local hospital to receive treatment for smoke inhalation:

"Might have to give up my nickname and give it to @Markcolemanmma he's the real immortal one!"

While Coleman's heroics have thrust him back into the MMA limelight, he has been a respected legend for years. He is widely credited with being the first American MMA fighter to employ ground-and-pound, a term that he himself coined. This made tremendous use of his sheer physicality and elite wrestling pedigree.

In his prime, Coleman was as muscled as heavyweights came and was a former NCAA Division I wrestling champion. His moniker, 'The Hammer,' stems from his pioneering success with ground-and-pound, as he appeared to almost be hammering his opponents into the mat.

He also made history by becoming the UFC's first-ever heavyweight champion when he submitted fellow MMA legend Dan Severn at UFC 12. Unfortunately, he failed to defend his UFC heavyweight title, losing it to Maurice Smith before eventually transitioning to PRIDE, where he found great success.

Throughout his MMA career, Coleman fought numerous legends of the sport, including Don Frye, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and Randy Couture. Finally, after a long career, Coleman retired in 2010.

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While Mark Coleman saved his family from the house fire, he did not succeed in saving the family dog

Mark Coleman's recent heroics didn't only include his parents; he also attempted to save the family dog. Despite managing to successfully retrieve his parents, he was not as fortunate when it came to the family dog, which appears to have perished in the fire itself.

As for Mark Coleman himself, there are no new in-depth updates regarding his condition, as he is still receiving treatment for smoke inhalation.