Nova Uniao flyweight Leandro “Feijao” Souza (5-5) passed out and died moments before Thursday’s weigh-ins for Friday’s Shooto Brazil 43 card in Rio de Janeiro, and promoters decided to cancel the event after the tragedy.
Andre Pederneiras, president of Shooto in Brazil and leader of Nova Uniao, announced the decision to cancel the show on his Facebook page hours after Souza’s death. He didn’t announce if the event will be rescheduled to another date or if the fighters will get paid.
There is still no information on the cause of the death for the 26-year-old fighter, but Souza’s teammate Andre Santos told MMAFighting.com on Thursday that “it was related to his weight cut.“
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.