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Former UFC fighter Godofredo “Pepey” Castro reportedly took his own life. | 📷: Josh Hedges/Zuffa/Getty
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Godofredo Castro was found dead of an apparent suicide in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, prison where he was being held. The Brazilian was 38 years old.
“Pepey” was arrested on June 30 for allegedly assaulting his wife, Samara Mello, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Castro was found unresponsive with a sheet around his neck on Saturday in the Broward Sherrif’s Office jail, according to a report published by MMAJunkie.com. He was reportedly transferred to a local medical facility, where he was pronounced dead.
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“This is a very sad story,” former coach Andre Amado told Sherdog.com. “We worked together for a long time. This was all a surprise to me. I met Pepey during the first ‘Ultimate Fighter Brazil.’ I got to know him, and I could see that he was a very talented young man. I recall that when he first came to the [‘The Ultimate Fighter’] house, his sneakers were all torn up, with holes and with the soles glued back on. I believe it was master Rafael Cordeiro who got him a new pair. We saw that fighting was going to change his life. We’d seen that story before, and he was the one participant [on the show] for which this was true.”
After finishing as the runner-up on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil,” Castro, who always dyed his hair red before his fights, embarked on an 11-bout career in the UFC. He went 5-6 with the promotion. The UFC released Castro after a knockout loss to Mirsad Bektic in 2018. He competed three more times after his release, finishing with a career record of 14-7.
“We had great wins together via our work,” Amado said. “After he left the UFC, he never came back to Curitiba. He used to spend two or three months with us before each fight before heading back home to Fortaleza. He’d repeat that back-and-forth every time he had a new booking. In training, he was amazing. He was a lot of fun. He was a good training partner for everyone. He was tough and strong, with a high-level of jiu-jitsu. He would pair up well against any weight class despite being on the smaller side.
“He was my fighting rooster,” he added. “As fight time got closer [and] as he’d be shedding weight, he would transform. Once he started dying his hair red, he really looked like a rooster. After he moved to the U.S., at some point, he reached out to me and asked for assistance. I helped as much as I could and referred him to a few friends of mine. We didn’t have any contact after that.”
Castro ran for city councilor in Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2024 but was not elected. His arrest in June exposed another side of the mixed martial artist. He allegedly physically assaulted Mello, causing bruises on her face and body, and he reportedly destroyed parts of the residence where the couple lived. According to reports, he prevented her from leaving the premises or using the phone to call for help. Police were called by neighbors the day after the incident and arrested the fighter. Castro faced a long list of charges from the State of Florida, including kidnapping with bodily harm and intimidation of the victim, domestic assault by strangulation, obstruction of communication with the police and domestic violence.
“I was surprised,” Amado said. “Such bad news. I couldn’t believe that he’d fail like that. I didn’t know that side of him. When athletes come to our academy, we only see one facet of them. We, our team, didn’t know that part of Pepey. It was shocking news that he assaulted a woman, and the report of his suicide, that was very sad. I received a message on the day it happened. He used to be so happy and full of life, but he made several wrong choices. I can’t imagine what hell he was going through to do what he did.
“He was full of life, with two children,” he added. “He was still young but decided to take his life. It was a shock. It was very sad to find out that someone like him would take his life. His story should be a lesson to the rest of us to never go down that path. After choosing to make bad decisions, it’s all downhill from there. I hope he is at peace. I hope his wife and children will be OK. They can reach out to me for assistance.”
News of Castro’s demise was met with sorrow by ex-training partner Bruno Silva. “I did train with him for some time, but I hadn’t seen him in years,” he said. “He was living outside Brazil. I was sad with the news. May God comfort his family’s heart.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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