MMA fighter Medet Zheenaliev died of drowning at the age of 30 on Tuesday after saving four teenage girls from drowning in his home country of Kyrgyzstan, according to The Sun.
Zheenaliev, who competed out of Russia, reportedly had been enjoying time with friends at Lake Issyk-Kul when he and a friend jumped into the lake after noticing one of the girls in trouble.
One individual had been pulled under the water by a strong current, according to local reports cited by The Sun, and Zheenaliev and his friend helped the quartet, with the four teenagers returning to shore.
Zheenaliev reportedly did not emerge from the water, and divers found his body the next day.
His death was labeled as drowning during a rescue mission, according to officials cited by The Sun.
The 5-foot-10 Zheenaliev registered four MMA fights in his career from 2017-19, posting a 2-2 record while fighting in Russia, and last competed in 2019.
He opened his career in September 2017 while competing at the Battle For The Belt, winning against Vladimir Kravchuk via an arm-bar submission at the 2:08 mark of the first round.
Six months later, in March 2018, he earned his first career knockout victory when he stopped Shamil Temirkhanov at 1:25 of the first round at Battle on Volga 3.
His career, though, ended with a pair of losses.
One month after his first TKO victory, he lost in April 2018 by submission at the 3:22 mark of the second round against Akhmadkhan Bokov at Road To M-1.
His last fight came 16 months later in August 2019, when he lost due to a doctor’s stoppage after the first round while fighting Makkasharip Zaynukov at GFC 16.
His tapology.com page lists a cancelled fifth bout that would have happened in 2019.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
