Former UFC star Ryan Jimmo dies after hit and run incident

Ryan Jimmo, an Edmonton-based MMA fighter who fought in UFC from 2012 to 2015, died today from injuries in a hit-and-run incident.

Jimmo was 34.

The CBC News reported on an altercation between two drivers at 2:15 a.m. in the parking lot of the H2O lounge in Edmonton.  According to the report, Jimmo walked up to the person in the other vehicle. He then walked away and the other vehicle ran him over, striking him from behind and leaving the scene.

The news report indicated the vehicle was a dark-colored pickup truck occupied by two Caucasian males that nearly hit a red car when fleeing for the scene. The suspects are at large.

Jimmo grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, and had a background in karate.  Jimmo won championships in karate from the age of ten. He startign fighting in 2007, and in 2008, he was selected for the tryouts of The Ultimate Fighter, but lost to Antwain Britt in the fight to get into the house.

He became a star with the Maximum Fighting Championships as Ryan “The Real Deal” Jimmo, winning the company’s light heavyweight title in 2011. He defeated a number of fighters who would go on to some fame while in MFC, and was signed by UFC after winning 16 fights in a row in Canada.

He debuted with a seven second knockout win over Anthony Perosh in Calgary, but didn’t fare as well from there, winning only two of his next six fights.  That, combined with sometimes publicly complaining, got him cut after a May 3, 2015, loss to Francis Barroso in Goiania, Brazil.