PFL prospect Sammy Jo Luxton vividly remembers the terrifying moment she believed she was going to die.
Following a spectacular 18-second head kick knockout in March 2024 that garnered significant attention and a PFL contract, Luxton was expected to prepare for her promotional debut. Instead, she received a cancer diagnosis that required emergency surgery. This turned out to be only the beginning of her serious medical issues.
Adding to the immense pressure, all of this occurred while Luxton was grappling with the imminent death of her father, who had suffered a massive heart attack.
Luxton recounted the devastating sequence of events: “My grandma passed away out of the blue. Six weeks later, my dad had a heart attack and got put into an induced coma.” She traveled to be by his side. While there, she required emergency surgery herself. “So I was in the ward below my dad and then the hospital had to basically put me in a wheelchair and wheel me up to his ward so I could be there when he died.”
Just six weeks after her father`s passing, she attempted to return to training, anticipating the PFL European tournament. Unbeknownst to her, an infection from her surgery was spreading through her body, leading to sepsis.
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition triggered by the body`s improper response to infection. When Luxton first felt its effects, she dismissed them as fatigue from a demanding training camp. She soon discovered her condition was far more critical.
“I didn’t realize it,” she revealed. “I thought it was just my body just nearing to the end of fight camp. I’m just sore, I’m tired and I wasn’t very well.” Her symptoms rapidly worsened: “I started having tremors on the mat and then I ended up started seizing and I was rushed to the hospital where my [temperature] was 42 (107 degrees Fahrenheit) so that’s basically life or death by that point.”
Facing extreme fever and sepsis, Luxton was in critical danger of severe organ damage or failure. Rushed to the hospital for urgent care, the British fighter recalls hearing a nurse`s alarming words during her struggle for survival.
“I got sepsis and I couldn’t walk or talk. It was scary,” Luxton said. An apprentice nurse was attending to her. When Luxton developed chest pains, her heart rate soared. As medical staff prepared a defibrillator, the nurse cried out, “She’s 25, she’s too young to die!”
“I can’t even explain the feeling but my whole body just loosened up because I’m like, ‘I’m about to die’,” Luxton reflected. Her sole thought was the unbearable pain her family would endure, losing her after everything else they had faced that year.
Fortunately, doctors successfully reduced her fever and brought the sepsis under control, pulling her back from the brink.
Despite her deep love for MMA, the now 26-year-old admitted that the cumulative trauma of losing her father and her own brush with death led her to question if her dream of becoming a champion was over.
“I ended up coming out of it and I thought the universe told me I’m not going to fight anymore,” Luxton stated. “That was the universe putting a full stop there like it wasn’t for me.”
Her profound grief over her father’s death, particularly given his instrumental role in her fighting career, made the prospect of returning even more daunting.
Luxton’s father was her staunchest supporter and never missed an opportunity to back her combat sports pursuits. His loss helped her empathize with UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov’s difficulty moving forward after the death of his father and biggest influence, Abdulmanap.
“When you lose someone that close to you, that close to your fight camp,” Luxton explained, recalling his lifelong involvement. “My dad took me to my first-ever training session when I was 10 [years old]. He took me to my first fight. He was there for the rest of my career. We traveled the world together and he had big dreams for me as a fighter.” His belief was unwavering: “So when the European tournament came up, he booked his flights and hotel for the final because that’s how sure he was of me to make it.”
She confessed, “I really didn’t think I would be able to come back mentally and do it without him.”
Between the heartbreak of losing her father and nearly losing her own life, Luxton initially stepped away from fighting. However, once she regained physical strength, she returned to the gym primarily as a means to rebuild her overall health.
Gradually, Luxton increased her training intensity and began feeling more like her old self. Whether by chance or design, shortly after she contemplated resuming her career, she received an unexpected call.
“I was still in and out of the hospital through November just doing my checkups, post operation, post sepsis,” she said. By November, she was declared “fully healthy now.” It was at this point that her training shifted from just exercise to focused preparation. “I think that was the point where I was coming into training and it wasn’t just for fun. I knew I was at full health and then I was hitting the pads and I was getting my speed and my cardio back and I just felt good about myself.” By the beginning of the new year, her desire to compete solidified. “It was the very start of this year where I said I want to fight.” Despite friends and family urging caution, she felt ready: “honestly hand on my heart, I feel ready to go now.”
“That’s when we got offered a fight like a week later,” she added.
Receiving the call from the PFL evoked emotions entirely opposite to the grief and health crises she faced the previous year.
“That’s how I kind of twist it from the universe is putting me down to the universe is trying to bring me back up,” Luxton reflected. Having had minimal contact with the PFL over the holidays, the call was “quite random they phoned me asking ‘Do you want to fight?’ I took it with both hands.”
She approached training with renewed intensity, fueled by the realization of how close she came to losing everything before it even truly began. Now preparing for her PFL Belfast debut on Saturday, Luxton fights for more than just herself.
“I got pushed all the way down to the point of retirement and I’ve brought myself back into this fight and I’m grabbing it with both hands because that is what I was made to do,” she declared. “I’m not a singer. I’m not a dancer. I’m a fighter so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“I want that world championship around my waist. I’m doing it for [my father’s] legacy now.” She fondly recalled his frugality: “Everybody that knows my dad, he was a proper cheapskate so he hated paying the ticket prices. He was like, ‘They keep going up and up’ and now people are like, he’s got the best seat in the house for free.” This thought is a powerful motivator: “So that’s what I’m going to take with me. Once I get in there, I know I’ll be able to hear him shouting what I should be doing. That is what is going to take me to the top.”
While her focus is fully on fighting again, Luxton never takes for granted the opportunity to be back. The challenging year has given her a new perspective on life, a story she is willing to share.
“Honestly, my life in 2024 could have been a movie,” she joked, expressing hope that becoming champion will lead to calls from producers. “I want Margot Robbie [to play me]. So she best start training.”
Percy Harlow