Mateus Fernandes
22-year-old Mateus Fernandes died of a heart attack after an amateur fight at a Remulus Fight event in Manaus, Brazil on March 30th.
Fernandes had started the fight well and won the first two rounds against Obed Pereira, but started to fade in the third and was then staggered by a hard punch that sent him to the canvas, with a final blow landing before the stoppage.
It’s believed that Fernandes then suffered the first of what would be four heart attacks inside the cage as his body seized up and he appeared to fall unconscious.
He was still alive after being rushed to hospital though, but was declared dead two hours later.
It later emerged that Fernandes had been part of a social project that tried to help drug addicts rehabilitate by training in mixed martial arts.
However, the project’s co-ordinator revealed that other students had alleged that Fernandes had taken drugs before the fight and that the coroner’s report had ruled that he died due to an overdose, rather than the injuries he sustained in the cage.
