Brazilian MMA fighter dies minutes before weigh-in for which he was trying to cut two pounds

Leandro 'Feijao' Souza, 26, died minutes before weighing-in for a major Brazilian MMA fight

He was two pounds off his weight loss target for the Shooto Brazil 43 flyweight card

His teammate said blamed his weight drop



MMA fighters are known to drastically reduce their body mass before a weigh-in to increase their chance of winning



Tragic: Brazilian MMA fighter Leandro 'Feijao' Souza, 26, was two pounds off his weight loss target when he collapsed and died before the weigh-in of the Shoot Brazil 43 flyweight card

A Mixed Martial Arts fighter, shedding weight for a bout in Brazil, died minutes before the official weigh-in yesterday.



Leandro 'Feijao' Souza, 26, was two pounds off his weight loss target when he collapsed before the weigh-in for the Shooto Brazil 43 flyweight card.



The Brazilian athlete was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Souza weighed 185 pounds, according to Sherdog.com.

Souza's Nova Uniao teammate, Andre Santos, believes the fighter's shocking death was related to his weight loss.

' We don’t have much information yet, but we do know that is related to his weight cut,' he told MMA Fighting.

'He’s my student but he also trains at Nova Uniao for about a year.



'I wasn’t with him during this process because I have a fight scheduled in Russia, so he spent the night at Nova Uniao’s gym.



'His sister called me saying that he had passed out so I went to the hospital, but he was already dead when I got there.'



MMA fighters are known to lose as much as 20 pounds within five days in preparation for a weigh-in getting rid of excess water and sticking to a strict diet.



The goal for competitors is to weigh-in at the top of their weight bracket and return to their normal weight before the match.



Showing up to a fight up to 30 pounds heavier than an opponent is widely considered a 'game changing' move.



However weight cutting has proven fatal for a number of competitors who have died from kidney failure.



Tragic: Brazilian MMA fighter Leandro 'Feijao' Souza, 26, died yesterday just minutes before his official weigh-in of the Shooto Brazil 43 flyweight card



'The athlete has passed away in Botafogo’s UPA. We don’t know the reasons why yet.



'We would like to express our condolences to all friends and family.'

Souza was slated to fight Gabriel Brasil in a flyweight bout at Friday's event in Rio de Janeiro.



While the details of his training regime are not known, his girlfriend Vanessa Reis noted on her Facebook page less than a week before his death how hard Souza had worked.



'Love I'm really happy for you, I know that's what you like and what you dream about ,' she wrote .



'Nothing in life is easy, and you fight so much and always train you get that vacancy in shooto.

'I'm excited and very nervous, as I know it's going to give everything right.



'I will always be beside you, I saw your dedication and your efforts to get this fight.



'Dream, despite illusions. Walk, despite the obstacles.

