PFL prospect Sammy Jo Luxton vividly remembers a terrifying moment when she genuinely thought she was about to die.
Instead of gearing up for her highly anticipated PFL debut, which followed an attention-grabbing 18-second head kick knockout in March 2024, Luxton was first diagnosed with cancer requiring emergency surgery. As it turned out, this was merely the initial hurdle in a series of medical crises.
Adding to this immense challenge, Luxton was also grappling with the impending death of her father, who had suffered a massive heart attack.
“My grandma passed away out of the blue. Six weeks later, my dad had a heart attack and got put into an induced coma,” Luxton shared. “I went down to sit bedside with him. While I was there bedside, I then needed emergency surgery. 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.”
“Six weeks after that, I put myself back into training and I was looking forward to being in the PFL European tournament. Little beknownst to me, there was an infection going through my body from the operation, which caused me to have sepsis.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition triggered by the body`s extreme response to an infection. When Luxton first began experiencing its effects, she dismissed them as the typical fatigue and soreness from a rigorous fight camp. Soon, however, she realized her situation was far more critical.
“I didn’t realize it, I thought it was just my body just nearing to the end of fight camp,” Luxton revealed. “I’m just sore, I’m tired and I wasn’t very well. 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.”
Under such extreme conditions—a dangerously high fever combined with sepsis—Luxton faced the risk of severe organ damage or even failure. Rushed to the hospital for urgent treatment, the British fighter will never forget a remark she heard from one of the nurses as she fought for survival.
“I got sepsis and I couldn’t walk or talk. It was scary,” Luxton said. “There was an apprentice nurse working on my ward and I started getting chest pains. They laid me flat and they got the [defibrillator], my heart rate was through the roof and she started going, ‘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’ and all I could think about was what my family had gone through that year and then losing me as well? That’s awful to even think about.”
Mercifully, doctors were able to lower her fever and bring the sepsis under control, ensuring Luxton survived to fight another day, albeit not immediately in the cage.
Despite her deep love for MMA, the now 26-year-old openly admits that the combined trauma of her father`s tragic passing and her own near-fatal health ordeal led her to question whether her dream of becoming a champion was realistically still possible.
“I ended up coming out of it and I thought the universe told me I’m not going to fight anymore,” Luxton said. “That was the universe putting a full stop there like it wasn’t for me.”
Her grieving process over the loss of her father, who had been an unparalleled source of strength and support throughout her life and career, only intensified these doubts.
Luxton`s father was her most dedicated fan, always present to cheer her on. Losing him helped her fully grasp the immense difficulty UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov must have faced in moving forward after the death of his father, Abdulmanap, who was his biggest influence in both life and fighting.
“When you lose someone that close to you, that close to your fight camp, my dad took me to my first-ever training session when I was 10 [years old]. He took me to my first fight,” Luxton stated. “He was there for the rest of my career. We traveled the world together and he had big dreams for me as a fighter.”
“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. I really didn’t think I would be able to come back mentally and do it without him.”
Following the double blow of her father`s death and her own brush with mortality, Luxton initially set fighting aside. However, as she regained physical strength, she returned to the gym, primarily viewing training as a path to full recovery and rebuilding her health.
Gradually, Luxton increased her workload, and slowly, she began feeling like her old self again. Whether it was fate or a remarkable coincidence, it wasn`t long after she started contemplating a return to her career that she received an unexpected phone call.
“I was still in and out of the hospital through November just doing my checkups, post operation, post sepsis,” Luxton recounted. “It was November when they said, ‘You’re fully healthy now.’ 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.”
“It was the very start of this year where I said I want to fight. My friends and family were like take your time, if you need a few more months, do that but I said no, honestly hand on my heart, I feel ready to go now. That’s when we got offered a fight like a week later.”
Receiving the call from the PFL brought Luxton a feeling almost entirely opposite to the despair she experienced just a year prior during her time of profound grief and severe health crisis.
“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 commented. “Because I hadn’t had much contact with PFL over the Christmas and New Year period and then it was quite random they phoned me asking ‘Do you want to fight?’ I took it with both hands.”
She has approached training with newfound ferocity, keenly aware of how close she came to having everything taken away before her career even truly started. Now, as she prepares for her debut at PFL Belfast on Saturday, Luxton is fighting for something far greater than 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,” Luxton asserted. “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. 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. 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 now squarely back on fighting, Luxton remains deeply grateful for the opportunity to pursue her passion again. The challenging experiences of the past year have granted her a fresh perspective on life, and it`s a powerful story she is eager to share.
“Honestly, my life in 2024 could have been a movie and I hope as soon as I become a world champion, I get those producers on the phone!” Luxton joked. “I want Margot Robbie [to play me]. So she best start training.”
Oliver Croft