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Geronimo dos Santos had 71 fights over the course of his MMA career. | Marcelo Alonso/Sherdog.com
Former heavyweight MMA veteran Geronimo Mondragon” dos Santos drowned Saturday morning after diving into the Rio Negro in the municipality of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.
The information about the disappearance was first released on the athlete’s own social networks by his brother, Feliciano Borges Neto. According to the account, Mondragon was at the beach with his girlfriend. After taking photos, he decided to go for one last swim before returning home, around 10 a.m. According to Feliciano, dos Santos asked his girlfriend to fetch his things while he went into the river. Shortly after, he dived into a section with a deep hole and was swept away by the current.
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According to his brother, “Mondragon” didn’t know how to swim. Noticing the delay, his girlfriend looked back at the river and saw the fighter struggling and calling for help. A group in a nearby boat tried to approach, but when the fighter seemed close to being reached, he sank and didn’t resurface. The reported circumstances indicate that the location has dangerous characteristics, such as a steep drop-off at the bottom of the river. Hours after the incident, the Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira City Hall officially confirmed the disappearance.
Rescue teams were called in and began searching Saturday afternoon. After almost 48 hours, dos Santos’ body was located on Monday morning. He was found a few kilometers from the drowning site, trapped between bushes and rocks, after being swept away by the current.
A Memorable Career and the UFC Debut That Wasn’t
Weighting 265 pounds, Mondragon had 71 MMA fights in his 18-year career (44 wins, 31 KO, 26 losses, one draw). He faced many renowned names of the sport, such as Junior dos Santos, Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, Wagner da Conceicao Martins, Vitaly Minakov and Assuerio Silva. The Brazilian heavyweight signed a contract with the UFC in 2012, but his debut was canceled after tests revealed hepatitis B. Years later, he was released from the contract and continued competing in national events. In April of this year, the fighter had his last fight, knocking out UFC veteran Alexey Oleynik in a bare knuckle boxing match in the opening round. After retiring, Mondragon took on the role of under secretary of public security for the city of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira.
The municipality of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira is located 852 kilometers from Manaus (the capital of Amazonas), near the Brazilian border with Colombia and Venezuela. Sao Gabriel is known for having one of the largest niobium reserves in the world (5.5 billion tons) and for its large indigenous population; nine out of every 10 inhabitants are of indigenous origin.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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