I’m very sad to pass along the news that UFC heavyweight fighter Shane Del Rosario has passed away today at the age of 30. The news is according to his coach, trainer, and friend Colin Oyama, who today revealed the passing on Facebook.
“The Del Rosario family and I, and all of our family, teammates and friends thank everyone for their prayers and support. God has a different path for Shane to take and instead has chosen to take Him away from us to be with his forefathers in Heaven. Yet through all of this our Faith in GOD remains unwavering.”
Del Rosario’s passing comes just two days after he suffered cardiac arrest at his home in California. Although doctors did everything they could and although Del Rosario fought valiantly just as one would expect him to, it just wasn’t enough and he is no longer with us now. I’m absolutely heartbroken by this news. Although I did not personally know Del Rosario, from all accounts he was a wonderful guy and, most importantly, a terrific fighter who enchanted mixed martial arts fans all over the world with seven years worth of great fights. Following promising kickboxing and muay Thai careers, Del Rosario made the move to mixed martial arts in 2006 at the age of 23. He debuted at King of the Cage in the summer of 2006 in his native California, winning his first MMA bout via TKO. He would then move on to fight in promotions such as Elite XC, M-1 and Strikeforce, racking up a perfect 11-0 record, with an armbar win over Lavar Johnson in February 2011 capping off an amazing run that saw him win his first 11 MMA fight by either knockout or submission. By the way, he still holds the record for having the only win via omoplata in Strikeforce, having shoulder locked Brandon Cash in 2009. Sadly, though, Del Rosario would be involved in a car accident in April 2011 — a drunken driver hit his car at a red light — that left him with a herniated disc in his back, and he was never the same fighter ever again. After getting the call to fight in the UFC in early 2012 following the disbanding of the Strikeforce heavyweight division, Del Rosario didn’t fare as well in the Octagon, losing via TKO to both Stipe Miocic and Pat Barry. However, the UFC still believed in his potential and he was scheduled to fight Guto Inocente at UFC 168 later this year, before he was pulled from the fight last week. It’s not known at this time if the heart problems Del Rosario experienced this week is related in any way as to why he was pulled from the Inocente bout. Del Rosario leaves this world having left an invaluable impact on the entire MMA community. He was always involved in amazing fights that made me jump off my couch. And although he didn’t do well in the UFC, consider that those two fights happened after that bad-luck car accident. I think had that car accident never had happened that Del Rosario would have fared much better in the UFC, but obviously we’ll never know that. Still, he had a very good career and was deserving of his roster spot in the greatest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. As far as from a personal level, although I never met or talked to Del Rosario, from everything I took from his interviews over the years he seemed like a great guy. I have never heard one person say one bad thing about him. And that’s why this new is so sad, because he was such a nice guy and he didn’t deserve to be taken away from his family so soon. He didn’t deserve to be taken away from martial arts so soon. From everyone here at MMAOddsbreaker.com, we wish that Shane Del Rosario rest in peace and we send out our condolences to his friends, family, teammates and coaches at Team Oyama.