A BRAZILIAN MMA fighter has been shot dead after reportedly being chased by two men.
Rogerio Silva Santos was gunned down after trying to hide inside a small grocery store.
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MMA fighter Rogerio Silva Santos has been shot dead after a brutal attack in Brazil
The horror crime happened yesterday in Lucas do Rio Verde, a city in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso which lies around 220 miles north of the state capital Cuiaba.
The two suspects are said to have shot their 36-year-old victim, nicknamed Cachorro Louco which translates into English as ‘Crazy Puppy’, several times at the shop entrance from close range before fleeing the scene.
No arrests have yet been made.
Rogerio, who hailed from the Amazon city of Almeirim in the state of Para, had stood as a candidate in elections there in 2020 but failed to win the votes he needed.
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It was not immediately clear today what he had been doing in Lucas do Rio Verde, a major agricultural city a marathon 2,000-mile, 70-hour drive south of his birthplace, when he was shot dead.
A Civil Police spokesman said emergency services had been mobilised after being alerted to a man who had been wounded in a neighbourhood called Tessele Junior, but confirmed he was already dead by the time firefighters and officers arrived.
He said: “The two suspects shot their victim at least three times.”
Local media described the killing as an “execution”.
Statistics published online show Rogerio lost all eight of his fights and last competed in March 2018.
In November last year a Brazilian former UFC fighter was found dead in prison.
Godofredo Pepey, 38, had been languishing in a Florida jail since the end of June after being arrested on suspicion of beating up his wife Samara Mello.
Pepey, born Godofredo Castro de Oliveira in the north-eastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza, got his start in martial arts training alongside his brother Godofredo Claudio who was a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
He had his first professional MMA fight in 2003 aged just 15 and then took a three year break before returning to active competition in 2006.
He made his UFC debut in 2012, fighting for the next six years until the world’s largest MMA promotion opted not to renew his contract.
