Elias Theodorou tragically passed away from stage four colon cancer at the age of 34 last September after privately battling the disease. Following the UFC's return to Canada at UFC 289, MMA fans took to Twitter to remember the late fighter.
Aaron Bronsteter, who covers combat sports for the Canadian channel The Sports Network, took to Twitter, stating:
"I can only think of one thing that would have made UFC 289 a more special night from a Canadian standpoint. Elias Theodorou would have loved to have been in attendance yesterday and was there with us in spirit. He passed away 9 months ago today. Still surreal that he's gone."
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Check out Aaron Bronsteter's tweet on Elias Theodorou below:
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Twitter user @n0_just1n suggested that Theodorou would be proud of the promotion's return to his home country:
"I bet he’s watching proudly"
@patdannamma showed off the shirt he wore in honor of the late fighter:
"shirt i wore for the fights last night❤️❤️miss him"
@Sascha_pm and @Carolineoxxo both had Theodorou on their mind during the event:
"Last event I went to was UFC Ottawa, and Elias was certainly on my mind several times throughout 289. I hope he was sitting comfy, blunt in hand, enjoying the Canadian showing last night from up above ❤️[Canadian flag]"
"I was thinking of him a lot during the event. I still cannot believe he is gone. 💔 He was such a bright light!"
@SerenaSouthpaw, who competes in the Invicta Fighting Championships, shared that her events are also not the same without Theodorou:
"One of the nicest person in this sport. It's not the same being at @InvictaFights without him being the ringboy there either 💔 #f**kcancer"
Check out some of the responses from fans below:
Did Elias Theodorou compete in any UFC events in Canada?
Elias Theodorou had 11 fights in the five years that he spent in the UFC, compiling an 8-3 record. The Canadian-born fighter had six bouts in his home country in which he had a 5-1 record.
His promotional debut came in The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale where he picked up a second-round TKO over Sheldon Westcott. He followed that up with a unanimous decision victory over Bruno Santos in his next bout. Theodorou did not fight in Canada for nearly two years before returning home with back-to-back unanimous decision victories over Sam Alvey and Cezar Ferreira.
He once again went nearly two years without fighting in front of a Canadian crowd before picking up a split decision victory over Eryk Anders at UFC 231. He lost his next bout, which was his last with the promotion, via unanimous decision to Derek Brunson. The bout marked the only loss of his UFC career in his home country.
