{"id":304020,"date":"2025-11-24T15:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304020\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:50:07","slug":"31-year-old-mma-fighter-isaac-johnson-dies-after-collapsing-during-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/304020\/","title":{"rendered":"31-year-old MMA fighter Isaac Johnson dies after collapsing during fight\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

MMA fighter<\/a> Isaac Johnson, 31, tragically died after collapsing during his match against Mario Aleksandrovski at the Matador Fighter Challenge at Cicero Stadium in Chicago on Friday, November 21.<\/p>\n

Johnson suffered an injury in the third and final round of the Thai boxing match\u2014his first ever\u2014before collapsing. An ambulance was called at 8:38 p.m. local time to take the injured fighter to the hospital.<\/p>\n

He was pronounced dead at 12:01 a.m. at the Loyola University Medical Center, as reported by NBC 5 Chicago<\/a> and Fox 5 Washington, D.C<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An autopsy has been scheduled by the Cook County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office (CCMEO) to determine the cause and manner of death, People <\/a>reported.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO: 31-year-old MMA fighter dies after collapsing during his first fight\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Goytia, through the Matador Fighter Challenge, promoted the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The website <\/a>for the challenge described it as an \u201caction-packed showdown\u201d that \u201cbrings you the ultimate MMA and Thai event, where local warriors will battle it out in high-stakes, high-intensity matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goytia told Fox 5 Washington, D.C. that Johnson had passed the physical examination required by the state before his match.<\/p>\n

The promoter also told\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m still processing this. I just don\u2019t know. I never in a thousand years (thought) this would have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goytia described the fight as a \u201cslugfest,\u201d noting that although both fighters landed many powerful blows, most failed to connect. The promoter also mentioned that both men appeared visibly fatigued at points, even falling simultaneously earlier in the match. Other than this, Goytia did not observe anything out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t see them land anything that would have been like \u2018Wow, that\u2019s what did it,\u2019\u201d Goytia said.<\/p>\n

Doctors immediately entered the cage to treat Johnson after he collapsed during the third round. According to Goytia, he was still alive when paramedics transported him from the arena<\/a>. The remaining fights were paused for 30 minutes, but the event continued following Johnson\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the back of your mind, you know this is a tough sport, you know injuries do happen in sports. But you never think this would happen,\u201d Goytia remarked. \u201cI know all the protocols were followed correctly, but in this case, it didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ ALSO: Here is how much Nigeria\u2019s MMA fighter Israel Adesanya made from his recent fight<\/a><\/p>\n

Goytia wrote on Facebook <\/a>after Johnson\u2019s death, \u201cThis is a post I hoped to never make. Last night, one of the fighters in our event, Isaac Johnson, collapsed towards the end of his fight. Medical attention was given by medical staff on hand and he was transported to hospital. I was then informed at around 1:30 a.m. this morning that he didn\u2019t make it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have the words to express how I feel right now, all I can say is my deepest condolences to his family, friends, and teammates. We will know more as the medical report is released,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations (IDFPR) is currently investigating the incident.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the agency conveyed their sympathy in a statement, saying, \u201cThe Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation offers their sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Johnson.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spokesperson added that the agency \u201cis aware of the events and will be thoroughly reviewing the circumstances surrounding Mr. Johnson\u2019s passing after his amateur Muay Thai bout at Cicero Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was a married man with a young daughter, as reported by Fox 5 Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO: Meet Abigail Kwartekaa Quartey, who is now Ghana\u2019s first female world boxing champion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MMA fighter Isaac Johnson, 31, tragically died after collapsing during his match against Mario Aleksandrovski at the Matador…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-304020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}