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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Nolan King

Former UFC fighter Elias Theodorou dead at 34; MMA community mourns

UFC Aaron Bronsteter Dana White Caposa Dan Ige Derek Brunson Luke Thomas Marcel Dorff Michael Chiesa Cancer

Former UFC fighter and “TUF Nations” winner Elias Theodorou has died.

Theodorou died Sunday after a battle with cancer. Sources who knew Theodorou confirmed his death to MMA Junkie after various reports surfaced online. He was 34.

According to a statement from his family on Instagram, Theodorou was diagnosed with colon cancer. Theodorou hadn’t publicly revealed his illness prior to his death.

He passed peacefully at home with his family and loved ones in his corner after a hard-fought fight with colon cancer that metastasized.

He faced his end as he lived his life eternally, irrationally, and infectiously optimistic.

It’s impossible to capture every facet or all of his accomplishments in a simple post so to “make it a long story short”

There will be a public viewing from 5-9pm Wednesday, September 14th at Vescios Funeral Home, 8101 Weston Road in Woodbridge, Ontario.

In lieu of flowers please donate to Elias’ two foundations, Theodorou Foundation & Higher Access. Both of these were founded to help others facing barriers accessing hospital support and medical cannabis, without the resources that Elias was blessed with.

Prior to his death, Theodorou asked his family to launch two nonprofits with the mission to help people with chronic illnesses get the treatment resources they need. A GoFundMe was launched Monday to assist with these efforts.

From 2014 to 2019, Ontario’s Theodorou competed 11 times in the UFC. His career in the international spotlight kickstarted when he won “TUF Nations” with a knockout of Sheldon Westcott. He went on to defeat names like Cezar Ferreira, Sam Alvey, Eryk Anders, and Trevor Smith. His only three promotional losses came against contenders Thiago Santos, Brad Tavares, and Derek Brunson.

After the loss to Brunson in May 2019, Theodorou was released from the UFC. Despite Theodorou’s successful UFC record of 8-3, promotion president Dana White said the decision to part ways was based on the unlikelihood Theodorou would become a top-five fighter.

Theodorou took his release in stride and vowed to reinvent himself to increase his finish rate. He went 3-0 after his departure, with his most recent win over Bryan Baker last December.

In the later years of his career, Theodorou became a vocal advocate for de-stigmatizing and allowing medical cannabis use for fighters. In January 2020, he became the first professional athlete to receive a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for it.

Theodorou also served as a “ring boy” for Invicta FC and was featured on “The Amazing Race Canada,” Season 3 in 2015.

Aaron Bronsteter

Elias Theodorou

Caposa

Dan Ige

Adam Hunter

Michael Chiesa

Fight Network

Marcel Dorff

Luke Thomas

Dana White

Gurdarshan Mangat

Serena DeJesus

Roxanne Modafferi

Simon Samano

Kelvin Gastelum

Casey O'Neill

Sodiq Yusuff

Mike Rhodes

Miesha Tate

Pearl Gonzalez

Julian Marquez

Megan Olivi

Will Harris

Promoter Rick Garcia

Matthew Wells

Javid Basharat

Tanner Boser

Jessica Moran (Theodorou representative)

Angela Hill

Chris Curtis

 

Bryan Baker (Theodorou's final MMA opponent)

Kevin Iole

Justin van Heerden

Ben Fowlkes

TJ De Santis

Aleksandar Rakic

Ali Abdelaziz

Marc Goddard

Patrick Cote

Jon Anik

Michael Bisping

Ariel Helwani

Alan Jouban

Mike Bohn

Aaron Jeffery

John McCarthy

Shannon Knapp

George Garcia

Sean Ross Sapp

Jeff Novitzky

Aljamain Sterling

Matt Frevola

Sarah Kaufman

Demian Maia

Julia Avila

Thiago Santos

Derek Brunson

Karyn Bryant

UFC

Arnold Allen

Tom Theocharis

The Amazing Race Canada

Farah Hannoun

High Times

Cindy Dandois

Coach Chad Pearson

Danny Segura

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