Josh Samman is reportedly in critical condition

The initial reports were murky, but said that on Friday morning, a man was found dead in a Florida apartment, and that his friend and roommate, UFC middleweight Josh Samman, was also found on the scene, and was hospitalized in critical condition. The deceased friend was reportedly Florida-based MMA announcer Troy Kirkingburg.

Samman, 28, began fighting professionally in 2007, and earned a 9-2 record before becoming a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen in 2013. He went 3-1 on the series, losing only to Kelvin Gastelum.

He was given a UFC contract and began on an extremely promising 3-0 streak. However, Samman struggled in the past year, losing to Tamdan McCrory via submission, and to Tim Boetsch via strikes.

On Monday he signed to fight Oluwale Bamgbose at UFC Fight Night 102 on December 9 at Times Union Center in Albany, New York.

Samman was highly talented, running the successful MMA Combat Night amateur promotion, and holding down regular writing gigs for BloodyElbow, UFC.com, and FloCombat.

He had also been visited by tragedy, including a youth spent in and out of institutions. On August 30, 2013, his girlfriend Hailey Bevis died in a car accident while the two were texting each other. He chronicled Bevis’s death, as well as his struggles with addiction, and career-threatening injuries in the memoir The Housekeeper: Love, Death, and Prizefighting.

There were internet reports that Samman had passed away, but actual reporter Amy Dashtarian reports that he is not. The two-time Emmy Award winner is an On-Air Legal Analyst for CBS Sports, HuffPo, Newsman, and Inside MMA on AXS-TV, among over a dozen others.

https://twitter.com/AmyDashTV/status/782090413175869440

“>@JoshSamman is alive and fighting. There are false rumors to the contrary that should be stopped in their tracks

— Amy Dardashtian (@AmyDardashtian) October 1, 2016

Our heart and thoughts go out to Samman and his family at this terrible time.