Fighters who are involved in combat sports know that there is a high-risk of injury every time that they step into the ring or cage. They don't expect to sustain serious injury while walking home with their significant other, but that is exactly what happened to Vermont based fighter Lliam Carroll early Sunday morning in Burlington.
Carroll, a Muay Thai fighter who has fought 4 times for Vermont-based promotion Donnybrooke, was walking home from an establishment early Sunday morning with his girlfriend when 2 men attacked Carroll from behind. The initial blind-sided onslaught from the two cowards knocked Carroll unconscious. As Carroll lay on the pavement of downtown Burlington, Vermont, the attackers continuously kicked Carroll in the head while he lay defenseless. It took bystanders to intervene and tackle the scumbags to the ground in order to stop the assault.
It was a heinous act on someone within our combat sports community here in New England. I don't personally know Lliam, but the promoter of Donnybrooke, Rex Thompson, reached out to me to explain just how good of a person that Lliam Carroll is. The 38 year old is 4-1 in his Muay Thai/kickboxing career, and is a loyal, hard-working member of society who didn't deserve this.
By all accounts this was a completely random, unprovoked, blind-sided attack from two maggots of our society which has put Carroll in a position of fighting for his life. Initial reports say that Carroll had sustained multiple skull and facial fractures due to the attack. He was transported to UVM Medical Center and immediately underwent brain surgery to release the swelling on his brain. He also underwent eye surgery to release the pressure being placed on his eyes brought on by the excessive swelling. As of the writing of this story, Carroll is currently in a medically induced coma and is on life support. He had a 2nd hole drilled into his skull this morning to help relieve more pressure from his brain and everything is touch and go at this point.
This will surely be the biggest fight of Lliam Carroll's life, and he needs the New England combat sports community to rally around him during this time of need. A GoFundMe has been setup to help support Lliam through this insanely difficult time, and help financially support him and his family as he is sure to accumulate massive amounts of medical bills during this process of recovery. If you can, please show some support for one of our own and donate to his GoFundMe. New England MMA will be donating $200, and we will also be creating some recovery t-shirts to sell through our platform where Lliam will receive 100% of the profits generated.
The craziest part about this whole story is that these two scumbags are currently out walking the streets of Vermont after being bailed out yesterday. Yes, you heard that right. These two asshats who viciously attacked someone from behind, and who may have a murder charge against them, are currently walking the quant streets of Burlington, Vermont. Now this is a conversation for another day, but how are there policies in place where two people who are a serious danger to society are allowed to walk free after savagely beating a man? We know damn well that if Lliam was able to defend himself from his attackers in a face to face manor, that these two clowns would most likely having been picking up their teeth off of the grimy Burlington streets.
The New England combat sports community rolls as one, so if anyone happens to bump into Gordon Horner or Dominic Lewis in Vermont, feel free to make your own decision on how to proceed.
