Bellator’s Cris Lencioni Out of ICU, Faces Uncertain Road to Recovery

Cris Lencioni is out of the intensive care unit after going into cardiac arrest during training earlier this month, but plenty of uncertainty remains regarding the Bellator fighter’s recovery.

Lencioni’s wife, Marca, revealed to MMAFighting.com that her husband suffered a heart attack during a jiu-jitsu exercise on June 8. An MRI later revealed that Lencioni suffered also brain damage as a result of the heart attack.

Lencioni has made some physical progress, including smiling and removing his hand from a bag of ice, but he remains in a “state of disordered consciousness” due to the traumatic brain injury. At this point, doctors are unable to give a clear prognosis on his recovery.

“The neurologists were basically like, ‘We have to wait to see what he can do and what he shows us,’” Marca told MMAFighting. “Because he was so, so healthy when this happened and is young and an athlete, they’re not really sure what’s gonna happen.

“The brain is complex, and because of where he’s at, they don’t know and they can’t say. Even the neurologist, she’s like, ‘I can’t give you a definite answer, because it’s gonna be up to him.’ If anybody can come out of something like this, it’s him. He’s a fighter in all senses – it’s not just in the ring.”

With Lencioni out of the ICU, doctors want to transfer him to a long-term care facility in Idaho. That could prove to be a costly treatment. According to Marca, expenses for Lencionci’s hospital stay were more than $300,000 for three weeks. A GoFundMe account started on Lencioni’s behalf has raised nearly $35,000 of the $250,000 goal as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Ten percent of people survive this, and the fact that he is moving, and trying to get up and like doing what he’s been doing...he drank water today for the first time,” Marca said. “It’s blowing [the nurses’] minds, and it’s blowing my mind.”