{"id":698621,"date":"2026-05-27T21:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698621\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T21:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:11:11","slug":"man-killed-in-bear-attack-identified-as-mma-fighter-hrishikesh-koloth-from-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/698621\/","title":{"rendered":"Man killed in bear attack identified as MMA fighter Hrishikesh Koloth from India"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The man killed in a rare fatal bear attack in northern Saskatchewan on May 8 wanted to be a professional mixed martial arts fighter, according to his brother. <\/p>\n

Originally from Kerala, India, Hrishikesh Koloth, 27, was working at a uranium exploration site when he was attacked by a black bear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had trained in MMA for over a decade, first in India and then in Canada after moving here three years ago. He had been living in Penticton, B.C., with his older brother Arjun Koloth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hrishikesh had been working on contract as a technician at the Zoo Bay property operated by Vancouver-based UraniumX Discovery Corp. The site is near Nordbye Lake, roughly 850 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

Arjun said Hrishikesh was a fighter and a dreamer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That was his dream. That’s why he came here,” Arjun said. “He wanted to fight in the UFC.”<\/p>\n

He trained with Skoden Martial Arts in Penticton, and “everybody had high hopes on him,” Arjun said. “It shouldn’t have been like this.”<\/p>\n

\"AHrishikesh Koloth trained with Skoden Martial Arts in Penticton, B.C., and his support team was like a second family, his brother Arjun said. (Skoden Martial Arts\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

Arjun said a knock at his door at 4 a.m. PDT turned his world upside down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAn RCMP came to my door and knocked and let me know that your brother has passed away in Saskatchewan,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A civilian on site shot and killed the bear. The animal has since been transported to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon for a necropsy.<\/p>\n

The company, UraniumX Discovery Corp, confirmed one of its contractors was killed and extended its thoughts and prayers to the family.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Man killed by bear in northern Sask. was fighter, dreamer:\"\"<\/p>\n

Man killed by bear in northern Sask. was fighter, dreamer<\/p>\n

The man killed in a rare fatal bear attack in northern Saskatchewan on May 8 has been identified by his brother as Hrishikesh Koloth, a 27-year-old martial arts fighter who moved to Canada from India.<\/p>\n

Arjun said his brother was going to start a job as a boxing coach in Vancouver in June. <\/p>\n

“Job is just a means to an end,” Arjun said. “The end was to fight.”<\/p>\n

He described Hrishikesh as humble, fearless, and fiercely loving to his family \u2014 someone who spoiled his parents and wanted to do everything for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AHrishikesh Koloth, 27 was was killed by a bear in Northern Saskatchewan on May 8. His brother Arjun says he wants Hrishikesh to be remembered as a fighter and a dreamer. (Valiente Fights\/YouTube)<\/p>\n

“He’s not scared of anything,” Arjun said. “Two days notice before a fight? Doesn’t matter. Opponent heavier than him? Doesn’t matter. Win or lose, he just wanted to fight.”<\/p>\n

Arjun is now in Kerala for his brother\u2019s funeral and to be with the rest of his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I wanted him to be known for what he does, how he was. I can’t do anything anymore, so at least I could do this for him,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I want him to be remembered for what he does. Innocent heart, fighter’s soul. Warrior. And I’d just like to say he fought [the] bear. That’s all \u2026 bear didn’t attack him. He attacked the bear.” <\/p>\n

This is only the fourth fatal bear incident in Saskatchewan’s recorded history. The last was in 2020, when Stephanie Blais, 44, was killed near her family’s cabin north of Buffalo Narrows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-698621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}