Kimo Leopoldo Dead?

TMZ has confirmed former UFC superstar Kimo Leopoldo is dead. He was 41.

Several MMA websites are reporting Leopoldo died from a heart attack ... we're still trying to confirm that fact.

UPDATE:
TMZ has de-activated the link due to the story not being true:
http://www.tmz.com/2009/07/21/ufc-legend-kimo-leopoldo-dies/

Comments

[MrJM]

Kimo answers Sports Illustrated's questions.­.. from beyond the grave.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/mma/07/23/kimo.rumor/index.html?section=si_latest

-- MrJM

[MrJM]

MMAWeekly: Do you think there's a lesson learned with this?

Kimo Leopoldo: Yeah. The media fails to have any accountability at all. The media should have come kind of standards or rules of conduct. *** The media gets away with more and more lately. They don't really have to have any accountability to anybody.

Ouch!

-- MrJM

[louiexiii]

He's alive. Story over.

[jennytaylia]

That's it. I'm never reading TMZ again. So much for responsible, fact-checked reporting.

[MurrayAbraham]

And what about HuffPo still keeping the story up?

[american-dolt]

Hooray for Violence

[HC4BO]

MMA is a ST00PID "sport" ... !

[Badger84]

...and laughably homoerotic.

[MrJM]

i.e., "Things I don't like are s000pid and tehgay."

-- MrJM

[AntiSheep13]

I take it that HC doesn't know how to fight.

[tploomis]

He looks like Robert DeNiro on steroids.

[KataVideo]

Apparently, he got better:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kimo-leopoldo22-2009jul22,0,485261.story

Kimi Leopoldo is not dead. Or.. he's a ZOMBIE

[RevBookburn]

He was Fox "News" material

[MisterHands]

41... was he a Young Republican?

[Driver125]

Really--I filed in the number as 71

[rextrek]

damm he looks like he had a rough paper route! 41...reall­y?

[AntiSheep13]

Harvey Levin deserves to be choked out for this one.

[rebopine]

Uh, he's not dead, Here's the scoop: http://mmajunkie.com/news/15585/despite-recent-reports-ufc-veteran-kim-kimo-leopoldo-is-not-dead.mma

[rebopine]

Don't trust any story if the only source is TMZ, they get it right occasionally but are highly unreliable.

[GeorgeP922]

That is not true, they are never wrong, and I have no dog in this fight.

[TchoupitoulasCanal]

This question is 150% premature, but do they do any kind of testing on these young men?

[rini]

I think they test them to make sure that they use steroids..

[rini]

Sorry, prize fighting? Maybe they aren't so careful about testing to make certain contestants are clean.

WWF? I think steroid use is a requirement.

The whole thing is sad.

[GeorgeP922]

They are tough on all drugs and test regularly.

MMA would go down the tubes if drugs were involved.

You get caught, your career is over.

[WaltinTexas]

WWF is a class organization- World Wildlife Fund. WWE are the wrestling morons.

[MrJM]

The Nevada State Athletic Commission tests all UFC fighters for drugs of abuse (such as marijuana and cocaine), as well as anabolic steroids and other performanc­e-enhancer­s.

At UFC 100, the fighters tested were were headliners Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, co-headliners Georges St-Pierre and Thiago Alves, and undercard winners Jon Fitch, Dan Henderson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Mark Coleman, Tom Lawlor, Jon Jones, Dong Hyun Kim, Jim Miller and Shannon Gugerty.

All passed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=mmajunkie-UFC_100_competitors_test_clean_for_drugs&prov=mmajunkie&type=lgns

The California Athletic Commission tests fighters who compete in that state as well, e.g. http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/After-positive-drug-test-Barnett-is-rightfully-?urn=mma,177360

When a fighter fails one state's drug test, all other state commissions honor the decision and the fighter's resulting ban from competition, i.e. if you fail in one state, you're done in the U.S.

-- MrJM

[kmac23va]

MMA writer/insider Dave Meltzer reports this is not true. When it comes to MMA, I trust him over TMZ. Even if they did get Michael Jackson right. Kevin Iole of Yahoo's MMA section (a colleague of Meltzer's) writes this story: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Ards1IwVy2ypzTtZwq.EuQg9Eo14?slug=ki-kimo072109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns