Has anyone died in MMA?
There have been quite a few deaths in MMA proving that is a dangerous sport.
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Has anyone died in MMA? - Image Courtesy MMA Mania
MMA is a dangerous sport. The frequent use of elbows, knees, punches, and kicks plus grappling and chokes are used to finish the opponent as quickly as possible. The referees do their best to protect the fighters from any life-threatening strikes, but they haven’t been always successful.
As such, there are some incidents in which fighters have sustained life-threatening injuries, or in the worst case have died, so the question remains, has anyone died in MMA? The answer is a sad yes. There are 7 recorded deaths in sanctioned fights outside of UFC.
List of MMA fighters who died inside the Octagon
The unfortunate fighters who lost their lives during or because of an MMA match are:
1. Sam Vasquez
Sam Vasquez was a 35-year-old fighter who participated in a Renegades Extreme Fighting event in Houston Texas, Vasquez was knocked out by his opponent and after the fight, he lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital.
He died after a couple of operations and the reason for his death was declared due to the blunt trauma to the head sustained during the fight.
2. Michael Kirkham
Michael Kirkham entered an MMA competition in Aiken, South California where he was making his professional debut, but unfortunately for him, his opponent threw him on the canvas seconds into the fight, where he several brutal shots to his head, the fight was stopped but Kirkham soon lost consciousness and never recovered.
Doctors declared him dead on June 28, 2010, and declared that the impact of those strikes caused subarachnoid hemorrhage which resulted in his death.
3. Tyrone Mims
Tyrone Mills was 30 years old when he competed in South Caroline, the reason for his death remains a mystery up until now, he complained about being extremely tired during the second round, and the referee stopped the fight, later on his way to the locker room he lost consciousness and never recovered.
There were no signs of any injuries whatsoever, doctors suggested that a heart problem was the reason but it was never proven.
4. Booto Guylain
Booto Guylain competed in an MMA event in South Africa where he sustained a heavy head injury during the third round in a match against Keron Davies, his condition was stable on-site but he passed away a week later.
There were rumors that the hospital delayed treatment of Guylain until he went into a coma. This is another reason why head injuries need to be taken seriously in any sport, not just MMA.
5. Donshay White
Veteran Donshay White was 37 when he lost an amateur heavyweight bout against Ricky Muse in Kentucky, he was TKO’d in the second round, and shortly after the fight he collapsed behind the stage and was taken to the hospital.
Unfortunately, he didn’t survive, it was later disclosed that he skipped his hypertension medication that day, and he died because of hypertensive heart disease.
6. Rondel Clark
Rondel Clark was only 26 years old when he lost his life, he entered an event in Plymouth, MA where he faced Ryan Dunn, he was TKO’d in round number three, was visibly fatigued, and was sent to the hospital.
He died soon after and it was declared that his kidneys failed as he was severely dehydrated. This caused another young fighter to have died because of MMA.
7. Mateus Fernandes
Mateus Fernandes was only 22 years old when he died, he competed in an MMA event in Manaus on March 30.
He started really well, winning the first two rounds, but in the third round he got hit with a combination and went down, he started to seize and died in the hospital. It was declared that he suffered four heart attacks before dying, and there was a rumor that Fernandes was on drugs during the fight, which was the main reason for his demise.
This was a very unfortunate topic to cover, but it was very important to answer the question, “Has anyone died in MMA” the fact that no such incident had happened inside the UFC shows that with proper rules and inside a safe environment an organization can carry out MMA fights without hurting their fighters.
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)