Don Frye and Gary Goodridge fought each other three times over their legendary careers, but that didn’t stop Goodridge from saving Frye’s life recently.
The 60-year-old Frye is currently in the hospital being treated for
Oldschool UFC legend Don Frye is in the hospital being treated for arrhythmia, and according to “The Predator” he probably would have died at home if Goodridge hadn’t forced him to go to the hospital. Well, technically it was Don’s daughter that forced him … but Gary called her.
“What brought me in here is my daughter,” Frye said from his hospital bed in a new YouTube video. “Gary Goodridge turned on me, betrayed me, went behind my back and called the boss. The boss came over and threw me in the truck, and we got stuck here in the hospital for a few days. And I had [Atrial Fibrillation] again. They shot me up back in 2016, and it lasted almost a decade.”
“I’ve been feeling like s–t the last couple years, but in the last three or four months I’ve really gone downhill,” Frye revealed. “Really steady, really fast. You can tell, when [Gary] came over, I couldn’t even go out and feed the horses, [he] knew something was wrong.”
Fortunately it sounds like Frye is on the mend now that he’s being treated for his condition.
“I’m feeling better,” he said. “I breathe, I wasn’t getting any air in. I had 96% oxygen intake, circulation, but it just didn’t feel like it. But I’m back up to 99 or 100%. I can feel it now, I think the new medicine has kicked in. They just have to adjust it to how much I need.”
Gary Goodridge, another UFC pioneer and legend, was on hand in the hospital watching over Frye.
“I really am happy that we came down here when we did,” Goodridge said. “Sometimes toughness is too tough. Don’t need somebody that’s too tough.”
“He told me three weeks ago to go to the hospital on the phone and I said ‘yeah yeah yeah’” Frye admitted. “It was only three weeks of not breathing. No biggy.”
Frye beat Goodridge via submission in the finals of UFC 8 back in 1996, and then again in the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 quarter finals. Goodridge would get his revenge in 2003 though when he hit Frye with a head kick KO at Pride Shockwave 2003.
It’s amazing to see Goodridge, who has gone through some scary moments dealing with traumatic brain injuries, looking so good. And even better to see how he’s watching out for his friends.
