The MMA Fighters Who Unexpectedly Passed Away in 2016

In the sports injuries are part of the game, but the Mixed Martial Athlete is an even more dangerous sport. There have been some of the injuries which are scary looking, but fighters sustain and live on to fight another day. Some opponents break mentally and physically; some eventually died as a result of direct competition.

The Mixed Martial Athlete thrive to be a money-making and promote itself as a brutal spectacle. It takes a strong fighter with years of training to compete inside the octagon to other trained professional. It has its consequences and risks, be prepared to sweat, bleed, cry or sadly die. Some of the deaths were not even cage related.

Over the past year, MMA community has lost an alarming number of promising fighters. Sadly, not only that, but we have also lost the boxing legend, all-rounder Muhammad Ali on June 3, 2016.

Here are the some of the fighters who have lost lives in 2016:

Kevin Randleman

Kevin (17-16) was a star of pride, Strikeforce and Former UFC heavyweight champion died from heart failure at the age of 44 on February 11. He had a long promising career before his last fight in 2011. “The Monster” who had fought some of the biggest names in the MMA and was a pioneer of the sport. Randleman blessed with tremendous physical gifts and one of the standout athlete.

Kevin achieved his most significant win in pride in 2002 over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in the first round via KO with a hellacious left hook and finishes him with ground strikes which remained the biggest upset in MMA history.

Joao Carvalho

Carvalho was Portuguese MMA fighter died following TKO in the third round in Dublin, Ireland on April 11th. He was ill for 20 minutes after his TKO defeat to Charlie Ward at Total Extreme Fighting 1. Ward was a team-mate of UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor, who was present in the crowd to cheer him up.

Joao was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he went immediate brain surgery and unfortunately died after two days. The cause of death was ‘acute subdural hemorrhage due to of trauma to head.

Many people saddened and heartbroken by the death of Carvalho, especially in Ireland, where some critics seriously called to banned on this sport. Moreover, Conor Mcgregor admitted that the fighters death haunted him. Further proceedings in regards to the incident were still under investigation.

Jordan Parsons

Bellator MMA combatant Jordan Parsons 25, passed away who became the tragic victim of a hit-and-run incident at Delray Beach, Florida on May 4.

Parsons gained fame as a featherweight competitor for Bellator MMA, who appeared to had a bright future in the sports after scoring 11-2 in professional MMA competition.

The hit-and-run incident occurred on May 1; Parsons was crossing a road near his apartment in Delray Beach, Florida and was hit by an alleged drunk driver with Range Rover SUV. Parson was rushed to hospital with a severe right leg injury, to save Parson’s life, he underwent a leg amputation and splenectomy.

Despite couple operations, he passed away three days after the incident.

A week after the incident, Delray police caught the fugitive Dennis Wright, a multiple-time DUI offender, is facing several felony charges.

Amokrane Sabet

Amokrane “Kiane” Sabet, a former MMA heavyweight was pronounced dead on May 1st.

Sabet 49-year-old French national who fought three times for Ultimate Challenge MMA in the UK. with a less impressive career scored 1-3 record with his only win coming in his debut fight back in 1999. After that, he eventually settled on the beautiful island of Bali.

Sabet has had a history of violence, harassing people, not paying bills at restaurants during his living in the coastal village of Canggu.

Local police authorities and immigration officials confront him about his expired tourist visa, attempt to arrest him at his house. Sabet ignored all the warnings, eventually ended up stabbing police officer eight times, before police opened a fire shot him multiple times and died at the scene.

Police officials stated they fired the rubber bullets at ex-fighter, later autopsy reports claim that Sabet death occurred due to of stab wounds during his altercation with police.

Blas Avena

Former Bellator and WEC mixed martial artist Blas Avena 32 found dead at his residency in Las Vegas on May 3rd.

Blas last fought at Bellator 96 in June 2013, with KO loss in first round to War Machine with a record of 8-7 in his career.

Police authorities investigated the incident by stating it could be a potential suicide case.

Kimbo Slice

One of the most popular MMA fighter and internet sensation Kevin Ferguson Aka “Kimbo slice” 42 died on June 6th. His unexpected death sent a shock wave to entire MMA community and his fans.

Slice went from YouTube backyard fighting sensation to one of the most first online viral video stars to MMA due to of his bare-knuckle brawling exploits. He went on to made records from EliteXC to the UFC to Bellator MMA.

Doctors from Medical Center in Margate, Florida, revealed that Slice needed a heart transplant days before death. He admitted to hospital on June 3, due to of complaining of severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath and nausea, was on ventilator ICU. He didn’t have an illicit history of any drug use. He only time-tested positive for a steroid after his fight with Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris at Bellator 149 and won. Unfortunately, the win was overturned after Slice tested positive for banned substance.

Outside of the cage, Slice was recognized as a charismatic, larger-than-life personality and a devoted family man.

Ivan Cole

MMA Fighter Ivan Cole dies at 25 on Saturday, June 11th, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound who was playing Russian roulette with a gun before his death.

Cole’s wife Kymberli setup fundraising page and stated:

“He made a bad decision that cost him his life. If you could donate anything, I would really appreciate it.”

Cole made his MMA debut in 2012 with a record of 2-3. He last fought against George Pacurariu on March 27, 2015, eventually lost via submission. He fought once in Legacy FC as well for Bellator MMA.

Ryan Jimmo

Former UFC light heavyweight Ryan ‘The Big Deal’ Jimmo died at 34 on the night of June 26th.

His girlfriend said while returning from movie night; some random truck had been tailgating their vehicle. Jim pulled over and got into a verbal altercation with suspects in the parking lot of H2O Lounge Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

When he began to walk away from them, police officials stated, that suspect driver accelerated and knocked him down. He was rushed to the hospital, but couldn’t sustain the injuries and pronounced dead hours later.

“The Big Deal” began his professional MMA career in 2007 with a record (19-5). Initially, he fought in the MFC, Maximum Fighting Championship from his hometown. Later he made his UFC debut in July 2012, where he scored a win via TKO over Anthony Perosh.

He lost fought in May 2015 against Francimar Barroso and lost the bout via unanimous decision.

Suspects were arrested in few days and were charged with second-degree murder.

Amar Suloev

Former UFC veteran Amar Suloev passed away on June 27 following his prolonged battle with stage four stomach cancer.

Suloev trained at the Red Devil Fight Club alongside the likes of Fedor Emelianenko competed in MMA between 1999-2008 with record 24-7 in his career. Suloev fought in the twilight of his career for the likes of Pride FC, Cage Rage, BodogFight and M-1 Global.

After sharing the cage with big names like Chuck Liddell, Chael Sonnen, Din Thomas and Yushin Okami, Suloev eventually announced his retirement in 2008 after his last bout against Jacek Buczko. Later he joined a private security firm in Russia

In 2013, he made headlines again, got arrested with several other gang members charged with the attempted assassinations of political figures in Russia. He spent the three years behind the bar while his trial was dragged in the Russian courts.

Suloev released from Jail on bail in February 2016, when he diagnosed with stomach cancer. Following months of medical treatment in Moscow hospital, he passed away on Monday, June 27.

Josh Samman

UFC middleweight fighter Josh Samman 28, pronounced dead on October 5th probable drug overdose after week-long coma.

Josh started his professional MMA career in 2007, earned a spot on “The Ultimate Fighter,” the promotion’s competition reality show, in 2013. As well compiled a 3-2 record in the UFC. He was respected writer, published a book, ‘The Housekeeper: Love, Death, and Prizefighting,’ where he had detailed about many struggles of his young life, including injuries, the tragic death of his girlfriend in 2013 and drug addiction.

Samman found unresponsive in their Hollywood, Florida home, five days earlier alongside MMA announcer, friend Troy Kirkingburg, who pronounced dead at the hospital, due to off accidental drug overdose. They determined his death because he was found with Kirkingburg and tested positive for drugs.

After his book was released, he expressed his desire to emerge a better person.

Moreover, he wrote for well-known platforms, like bloodyelbow.com, flocombat.com and UFC.com.

Published on November 4, 2017 at 12:00 am
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