Angela Magana Issues Emotional Statement After Waking Up From Coma

UFC women’s strawweight veteran Angela Magana survived a harrowing health scare this week.

The current Combate Americas fighter was forced into a coma following emergency surgery earlier this week. The outlook was bleak, but good news came when news broke Magana was responsive yesterday.

Today, Magna posted an emotional statement thanking her fans to YouTube (via MMA Junkie) where she said she felt like “a very rich woman because I have a lot of time.”

“Hi guys, I’m awake. I still feel very tired. I can barely open my eyes. Thank you everybody for thinking about me. I feel like I’m a very rich woman because I have a lot of time. Look what happened, I almost lost all my time. But, uh, to take time to wish somebody well, you know, what do we do with time? We make money, so time’s more valuable than money.

“So, thank you to everyody who took the time to wish my well. I”m going to make a full recovery. The problem was just the anesthesia. The disc procedure and the cauda equina stuff was better than they thought. So, the surgery was great, it was just the anethesia. I’m going to get better, and I’ll be fighting again soon. Nothing will stop me, man. And Combate Americas has been so good to me, thank you.”

Crisis Averted

Magana’s surgery was required when she suffered back pain from training for an upcoming fight scheduled for April 26. She was taken down in training on April 7. Magana was diagnosed with a herniated disc as a result. She continued to train for the fight for a week but the pain became too much to continue.

Magana was then diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome involving the bundle of nerves in the lower back. That required emergency surgery. She was in a coma due to the anesthesia that accompanied the surgery. Thankfully, she’s awoken and is ready to resume her fighting career when she heals up.

Her employer Combate Americas also issued a statement on the fortunate news that she would be back:

“We are thrilled and relieved to hear that Angela has come out of the coma and is alert and responsive,” Combate Americas Sr. VP of Operations and Communications told MMA Junkie. “We have to imagine that her fierceness and determination has played a part in her recovery.”

Magana was scheduled to face Kyra Batara at Combate Americas 35 on April 26.