{"id":334421,"date":"2026-03-17T19:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334421\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:21:08","slug":"coroner-mma-fighter-hakaraia-wilsons-death-after-rhythm-vines-self-inflicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334421\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner: MMA fighter Hakaraia Wilson\u2019s death after Rhythm & Vines self-inflicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wilson left the festival<\/a> in the early hours of January 1 to attend a house party. He left the party after a minor disagreement with another attendee.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Wilson was picked up by a friend who had known him for about two years. The friend described him to police as being \u2018on drugs\u2019 and \u2018a bit funny\u2019,\u201d the coroner said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe friend stated that Mr Wilson was crying. He made a bed for Mr Wilson on his sofa and last saw him at about 6am on January 1, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friend\u2019s mother found him dead<\/a> at about 8.30am.<\/p>\n

The coroner also said, \u201cMr Wilson last saw his general practitioner for a concussion on December 12, 2024. He reported a punch to the left side of his head about five days earlier and several concussions in the past. He had some amnesia but no other symptoms. He planned to meet with his coach who intended to refer him to their concussion specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coroner Duggal said: \u201cPolice are satisfied that there is nothing suspicious or untoward in relation to Mr Wilson\u2019s death. No evidence was found to indicate the involvement of any other person in the death. I accept this advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson began his amateur career in 2020 and had a 4-3 pro MMA record. His last bout was a win in October 2024 over Filipino opponent Mark Alcoba at the Canggu Fight Night 32 event in Bali.<\/p>\n

He posted on Instagram after the victory, his fourth win in his last five bouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTook an L in May, learned from it & turned da page. Been waiting a minute for a chance to wash dat taste out of my mouth n show how much I\u2019ve grown. Shout out to my coaches n my people for havin my back thru it all. Forever in debt. I love this s*** & I\u2019m here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson was part of Oliver MMA gym. Founder Steve Oliver shared a photo on Facebook and many posted messages of condolences.<\/p>\n

He trained at Soma Fight Club in the Indonesian city of Bali.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith you always,\u201d the club posted on Instagram after Wilson\u2019s death, alongside a broken heart emoji and a photo of Wilson. \u201cRest easy young warrior, always in our hearts forever more. We will carry you with us into battle always. \u201cUntil we see you again, we love you Hakaraia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends and family also paid tribute to Wilson on the fighter\u2019s Instagram account.<\/p>\n

\u201cRest easy bro,\u201d one follower said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Bro love you man may you rest in peace,\u201d another added.<\/p>\n

The family was approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wilson left the festival in the early hours of January 1 to attend a house party. He left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,1763,12629,868,634,90934,33842,179361,33026,111,139,69,6289,3550,179362,544,213,106382,8911,1961,3551,6040,102],"class_list":["post-334421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-article","tag-coroner","tag-deals","tag-death","tag-disturbing","tag-fighter","tag-hakaraia","tag-mma","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-readers","tag-rhythm","tag-selfinflicted","tag-some","tag-sports","tag-subject","tag-suicide","tag-this","tag-vines","tag-wilsons","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}