Sad news! Brazilian Mateus Fernandes died hours after an amateur MMA fight in Manaus (Brazil) on Saturday night.
Fernandes competed in an MMA event sanctioned by the Amazonas Athletic Commission (CAMMA), losing via third-round TKO after his opponent, Obed Pereira. He dropped him with a combination of punches. Fernandes was hit with another punch on the ground before the referee stopped the fight.
Fernandes trained out of Formando Campeoes, a social project that focused on helping people with drug addiction through martial arts. Project coordinator – Vanderluce Cantuarias, told “MMA Fighting” that the coroner’s report showed that Fernandes’ death was caused by an alleged overdose, not by the damage sustained in the fight.
“He did exams on Friday and was clean, but ex-students told us later that he spent the night using drugs,” Cantuarias said. “He didn’t appear to have used anything. He was sweating a lot, but that is common, the adrenaline of the fight. He did great in the first couple of rounds, but was rocked in the third round and went down, and then he started having seizures caused by the drugs.”
On the video clip Fernandes can be seen still awake for a moment before he appears to pass out. A doctor is checking on the fighter for a minute before the video ends.
The Brazilian was taken to a local hospital and suffered multiple heart attacks, dying at 11:45 p.m. local time, CAMMA president Wallace Alves told “MMA Fighting”:
“I’m feeling numb right now, really upset,” Alves said. – “He was rushed to the hospital and had his eyes open the entire time. He was dizzy, but still awake. He was examined in the hospital and then suffered the first heart failure. They tried to save him for two hours, but he ended up dying.”
