Former UFC fighter Elias Theodorou dies at 34

Elias Theodorou has sadly passed away.

The Canadian MMA fighter died after a battle with cancer, with multiple teammates and friends confirming the heartbreaking news to BJPENN.com and on social media. Theodorou won the ‘TUF: Nations’ middleweight tournament back in 2014 and was in the UFC until 2019.

Theodorou went 8-3 inside the Octagon and was released after his loss to Derek Brunson at UFC Ottawa in 2019. In the UFC, he beat Sheldon Wescott, Bruno Santos, Roger Narvaez, Sam Alvey, Cezar Ferreira, Dan Kelly, Trevor Smith and Eryk Anders, while his two other losses came to Brad Tavares and Thiago Santos.

Following his release from the UFC, Theodorou fought on the Canadian regional scene where he TKO’d Hernani Perpetuo and then TKO’d UFC veteran Matt Dwyer. His last fight was back in December of 2021 at Colorado Combat Club 10 and he scored a decision win over Bellator alum Bryan Baker.

Along with being a professional fighter, Elias Theodorou was the ring-card man for Invicta FC and was an advocate for getting a TUE for marijuana use during his fighting career.

“I want to use my platform to bring attention to what I’m doing. But, also bring attention to the current stigma that unfortunately surrounds cannabis,” Theodorou said to BJPENN in 2019 about why he wanted to get marijuana of USADA’s banned list. “It is something that I can slowly remove. Obviously, the stigma still remains but one step at a time. If what I’m doing allows another athlete to get out of the shadows, then I am kind of doing what is the right thing. Not only for myself but for other athletes to educate themselves and that this is an option. Moreover, remove the fear that any type of punishment will happen for just talking about it.”

Theodorou ended up achieving his goal as when he fought Matt Dwyer he became the first professional athlete in North America to be able to compete with a therapeutic use exemption for cannabis. He then got the same exemption in his last bout making him the first athlete in the U.S. to receive the exemption.

RIP Elias Theodorou. Canadian MMA, and the sport in general has lost a good one.