The death of Nova Uniao’s Leandro "Feijao" Souza (5-5) prior to the official weigh-ins forced the Shooto Brazil promoters to cancel Friday’s event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the first exams concluded that the flyweight had died after suffering a stroke.
Joao Ismar, the chief of police in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, told UOL that the exams conducted by Instituto Medico Legal (IML) has showed that Souza suffered a stroke, but they will keep investigating to check if his weight cut is related to the 26-years old fighter’s death.
"It’s too early to say that he died because of the effort he was doing to lose weight," Ismar said. "We need to check his medical records because it’s not normal to see a young kid like him suffering a stroke. IML is working to get more information so we can get in a conclusion, then we will start an investigation."
Andre Pederneiras, leader of Nova Uniao and president of Shooto Brazil, hasn't responded to messages left by MMAFighting.com.