Recent fighter deaths raise questions

The death of former heavyweight title contender Justin Eilers, due to a gunshot wound at the hands of his stepfather at a Christmas night party, marked the third death of a recent UFC fighter under strange circumstances in a short period of time.

Eilers, 30, a one-time starting linebacker at Iowa State University, began in the fight game while still in high school, breaking in with current headliner Jens Pulver, and former UFC fighter Mike Kyle.

His death followed the Dec. 17 suicide of Justin Levens, 28, who had a couple of UFC fights in 2006, and was a regular in the now-defunct International Fight League in 2007. Levens is believed to have shot his wife, Sara, before killing himself, in the couple's Southern California condo.

In September, Evan Tanner, 37, a former UFC middleweight champion, died due to heat exposure when camping in the desert near Brawley, Calif.

Is the spate of deaths a harbinger of bad things to come, or is it a random series of coincidences?

There are no real similarities in the three deaths, so it is hard to determine if there are any lessons to be gleaned. It's very different from pro wrestling, which has had a scary pattern of early heart attack deaths, mostly of performers with pasts that included significant steroid and recreational drug issues.

The only real similarities between the three fighters, other than they all made it to the UFC level at one point, is all three were struggling in their careers, and had battled depresson.

The issues aren't uncommon among fighters, who often survive paycheck to paycheck in a sport where only the biggest stars make top money, are where they are often judged on their last performance, and careers in the spotlight are often short.

Added to the mix is the effect of strikes to the head and concussions, which appear to accentuate those issues.

Chris Nowinski, author of the book "Head Games," and founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, which studies the effect of repeated concussions leading to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, noted they have been tied to both cognitive impairment and depression.

Nowinski started studying the effects on concussions on athletes after suffering numerous problems himself that he couldn't fully understand after damage done as both a football player at Harvard University and later with World Wrestling Entertainment.

"When Evan Tanner passed away, the idea of someone who had done that so many times who may have forgotten the right supplies could be an example of that," he said. "With Levens, that situation was similar to Chris Benoit (the pro wrestler who killed his wife and son and then killed himself). But this really wouldn’t apply to the death of Eilers."

Nowinski noted that in studies of brain injuries among boxers, the correlation isn't just the number of concussions, but also the length of time spent in the sport and amount of overall shots to the head taken. He noted the repeated pounding in sparring sessions over 10 years can lead to significant damage even without full concussions, noting fighters can have numerous sub-concussions.

Tanner's issues with depression were well known, as he wrote about them often on the Internet. He had also battled alcoholism, which had led to a lengthy sabbatical from UFC before returning for a fight in June. After losing his last fight to Kendall Grove, Tanner had contacted UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and told him he had a medical issue he needed to take care of, would do so, and asked for time off before returning.

Levens' career was going downhill, as he was on a five-fight losing streak, and was on a six-month suspension by the California State Athletic commission after a drug test taken in July showed massive amounts of the painkiller Oxymorphone. Friends noted he had been battling severe depression for the prior 19 months, since the suicide death of Jeremy Williams, one of his best friends and a teammate on the IFL's Southern California Condors.

But Brandon Shue, Eilers' roommate and training partner, who started him in the fight game when Eilers was a 16-year-old high school wrestler, pointed the finger at depression as a catalyst for what ended up happening.

"He hadn't been paid in four months," said Shue. "He was sick of MMA and said he wanted to go into boxing. He was really depressed. That's a big part of what happened. He had no money for four months and was frustrated with a lot of people."

Eilers' last fight was on July 26, when he was stopped early in the second round by Antonio Silva, in Stockton, Calif., in a match on Showtime to determine the first Elite XC heavyweight champion. Silva tested positive for the steroid Boldenone at the fight, but California doesn't yet have a provision in its bylaws allowing a decision to be overturned if the winner tests positive for a performance enhancing drug.

After the match, Eilers, a small heavyweight at about 224 pounds, talked of cutting to 205. But when Elite XC fell into financial disarray a few months later, Eilers found his career on ice.

Elite XC had no more shows scheduled, but they were not releasing fighters from their contracts because they are still in the midst of trying to sell their assets, so Eilers couldn't negotiate for a new deal.

He was five months without a fight, broke, depressed about being unable to afford to buy Christmas presents, and frustrated with the fight game.

Shue believes that frustration led to the fireworks that took place at a Christmas party at the home of his mother and stepfather. He had been drinking when an ex-girlfriend, the mother of his eight-year-old son, Tyson, got into an argument with him about being late on child support payments. This led to an argument with his mother and stepfather. His mother, Gwen Moore, told the Canyon County Sheriff's office that her son got into her face when she was telling him to be quiet.

"James (stepfather James Malec, 48) told Justin to back down, but he wouldn't, and challenged James to a fight by saying, 'Come on, come on, fight me, bring it on, what do you got?' " she told police.

"There was no evidence of a physical confrontation," said Lt. Marv Dashiell of the Canyon County sheriff's department, although he did note there was broken glass on the floor, either from Eilers knocking it off a table or knocking into a table causing the glass to hit the floor.

Malec, who had also been drinking and had a concealed weapons permit, was accused of pulling out a large caliber handgun and shooting Eilers in the chest, with the bullet puncturing his lung. Police and paramedics were called and were unable to revive him.

Malec, former deputy in the Canyon County sheriffs department, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and is currently being held in jail in Canyon County, Idaho on $1 million bond.

Eilers' listed career record was 19-7-1, but that record states his career started with a 2002 loss to Dan Severn. Shue noted that dating back to 1996, Eilers, as a teenager, was regularly fighting in small shows in Idaho and Wyoming before he started college football in 1998.

Eilers had the reputation of winning virtually all his fights on smaller shows, but was never able to beat top name fighters.

Eilers got back into the fight game after not making it in the NFL. He met back up with childhood friend Pulver in 2002, who by that time had become a big-name fighter, and brought him to the Pat Miletich's camp in Bettendorf, Iowa, where he started the second phase of his career.

He had four UFC fights between 2004 and 2006. The most memorable fight would have been his loss to Arlovski, who at the time was a dominant heavyweight champion, mowing down everyone in less than two minutes, and Eilers figured to be no different.

Eilers lasted 4:10 in that fight, in which he broke both hands, one blocking an Arlovski punch and another from hitting Arlovski with a solid punch, sprained one ankle, had both his eyes blackened and suffered a broken jaw. The fight finally ended when he went to throw a right and his right knee went out, tearing his ACL, and he collapsed on the ground.

Manager Monte Cox noted being with him the next day as Eilers limped through the airport with both hands bandaged, with crutches for his bad ankle, with his other leg all taped up, and with the noticeable black eyes. Everyone was staring at him.

"He said loud enough for everyone to hear, 'You should have seen the other guy,' and then paused. 'Not a scratch on him.' "