A Brazilian MMA fighter has been shot dead after allegedly being chased by two gunmen.
Rogerio Silva Santos was executed after trying to hide inside a small grocery store. The gruesome incident took place in Lucas do Rio Verde, a city in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.
According to reports, the two suspects shot the 36-year-old victim, known as "Cachorro Louco," several times at the entrance to the store at close range before fleeing the scene. No arrests have been made yet.
Rogerio, who was from the Amazonian city of Almeirim in the state of Para, had also run in local elections there in 2020, but had failed to win the necessary votes.
It was not immediately clear what he was doing in Lucas do Rio Verde, a large agricultural town about 2 miles from his hometown - a journey of about 70 hours by car - when he was shot to death.
A spokesman for the Civil Police said emergency services were mobilised after being notified of an injured person in the Tessele Junior neighbourhood, but confirmed that he had died before firefighters and police arrived.
"The two suspects shot the victim at least three times."", he declared.
Local media described the killing as an “execution.” According to statistics published online, Rogerio had lost all eight of his MMA fights and last competed in March 2018.
The article also mentions another recent case in Brazil: last November, a former Brazilian UFC fighter, Godofredo Pepey (38), was found dead in a Florida jail, where he had been arrested since late June, on suspicion of violence against his wife, Samara Mello.
Pepey, born in Fortaleza, began his career in martial arts with his brother (a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu). He fought his first professional MMA fight in 2003, at just 15 years old, took a three-year hiatus and returned in 2006. He made his UFC debut in 2012 and fought for six years, until the organization decided not to renew his contract.
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