The NZA Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 source ][/color]Leandro "Feijao" Souza, 26, a Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter who was scheduled to compete on Friday in a flyweight bout at Shooto 43 in Brazil, died Thursday just prior to the weigh-in for the event, a prominent Brazilian trainer confirmed via Facebook. Teammate Andre Santos told Uol Esportes that Souza needed to cut around two pounds to make the 126-pound weight. According to Santos, Souza was in a sauna when he passed out. Friday, the Institute of Forensic Medicine determined Souza suffered a stroke, though it was noted that it's "premature" to attribute the stroke to Souza trying to cut weight. still unclear if weight cutting was directly related to his death, but it's been a hot topic in boxing/MMA/wrestling and other avenues of professional fighting for a while now, as fighters take some tremendous risks aggressively shedding down to make weight in time. One side of the debate says having the weigh-in the day prior to the fight encourages these dangerous measures from fighters wishing to cut several classes down, while others (including Urijah Faber) put forth that if weigh-ins were the same day as the fights, it'd be even worse, as fighters not allowed time to properly rehydrate would be in greater danger from headshots/etc. related: Also, a few NCAA wrestlers over the years have died from this which is why the NCAA now closely monitors the hydration of wrestlers during their weight cutting. UFC heavyweight Daniel Cormier suffered from kidney failure while he was on the US Olympic wrestling team in the 2008 Beijing games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panch Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Heard about this. The truth is, cutting weight is a part of those sports and if done irresponsibly can really hurt you. However, this isn't that common in comparison to how many folks are doing it all the damn time. It's a sad, sad story, but... The reason Brazilian fighters seldomly fight outside of their country is because of how lax their drug testing is. Most of those guys are juiced up and would be exposed if they left Brazil. Dude that died, while tragic, might have been doing something he wasn't supposed to do. We'll have to wait for more info. Cutting weight story: In the wrestling offseason of my senior year in high school I ballooned to about 132 lbs. Once the season started I was facing a couple options: either I wrestled my natural weight, but have to challenge Keron at 130... or wrestle JV. Knowing I couldn't beat Keron, I dropped. But it didn't stop there. At 125 was Chris Perez (which I could beat, but the coaches urged me to drop more) so down I continued. At 119 was Mike (and this was when Mike was really starting to become good) so down I went to 112, the weight I wrestled the year before. I had lost 20 lbs in just 2 weeks! It was insane. Then I had to keep it down throughout the season. I won regionals and districts before going to state and basically giving up because I was so hungry. True story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 yeah man, i remember watching your brother run around the block wearing garbage bags, looking dehydrated and not taking my offers of water/yoo-hoo, haha. concept was so bizarre for me at the time. when i boxed at FIU, i moved up from lightweight to welterweight, which was really easy for me to maintain (< 147), it would take considerable effort right now at super middleweight but with the right amount of time it'd be doable, i'm just glad i never really had to fast/dehydrate myself like so many dudes do. i fought outside of my weight class a few times, and i felt a lot more comfortable doing that on amateur level than having to shed & see how much speed/power/endurance i was able to maintain, having seen some friends do it in that gym it looked absolutely grueling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panch Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 The worst was when Mike and I were cutting weight and Nina was making these huge meals for Jake, Jack, Jill and my dad. We had a bag in the freezer with frozen grapes and that's all we were allowed to have. It's no wonder we raided you and Ariel's kitchens as much as we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 update: apparently not related to cutting weight (kidney failure, etc) Joao Ismar, the chief of police in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, told UOL that the exams conducted by Instituto Medico Legal (IML) has showed that Souza suffered a stroke, but they will keep investigating to check if his weight cut is related to the 26-years old fighter's death. "It's too early to say that he died because of the effort he was doing to lose weight," Ismar said. "We need to check his medical records because it's not normal to see a young kid like him suffering a stroke. IML is working to get more information so we can get in a conclusion, then we will start an investigation." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panch Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 (edited) I don't know, man. This is pretty damming: According to Santos, Souza was called in on short notice to fight on the card and needed to lose 33 pounds in one week. He still had 11 pounds to lose in the last 24 hours. Souza was trying to cut two remaining pounds when he passed out inside the sauna. Edited September 28, 2013 by Panch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 yeah, that's a shitton of weigh to lose, and way too fast. maybe there'll be more follow-ups? as was said, strokes aren't common at all for that age.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panch Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 (edited) Guess we'll have to wait... Edited September 28, 2013 by Panch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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