There are conflicting reports that UFC heavyweight Shane del Rosario passed away today, after going into severe cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning. According to manager Jason House, del Rosario was given a radical treatment that involved cooling down his body in an effort to revitalize his brain and other internal organs, but the athlete either is not or was not responding. House, as well as some of Shane’s Training partners from Team Oyama have been on social media, posting that while Shane is not yet dead, it’s essentially an inevitability at this point.

Other fighters and news media are reporting that he has already passed, and are offering their condolences. Adding to the confusion, the former Strikeforce prospect’s trainer, Colin Oyama, issued the following short statement via his Facebook account earlier today.

The Del Rosario family and I, and all of our family, teammates and friends thank everyone for their prayers and support. God has a different path for Shane to take and instead has chosen to take Him away from us to be with his forefathers in Heaven. Yet through all of this our Faith in GOD remains unwavering.

Conflicting reports arise on the death of Shane del Rosario

Countering that, though, is this tweet from teammate Ian McCall.

My brother friend and teammate is not gone yet no matter what you have heard! Pray for him. #ohana #prayforshane

— Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) November 28, 2013

Shane del Rosario (13-2) first started catching the MMA community’s notice in 2008, after going 5-0, with all victories by some (T)KO or submission, and dismantling the opposition during his run in ShoXC’s Elite Challengers Series. His path of destruction would also take him through M-1 Challenge and Strikeforce, culminating in a 1st round submission victory over Lavar Johnson at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva. After the Strikeforce/UFC merger, del Rosario’s luck turned, as he lost his next two bouts against Stipe Miocic and Pat Barry, respectively. He had been scheduled to face Guto Innocente at UFC 168 before suffering a severe heart attack on November 26th.

We at MMASucka.com offer our sympathies to del Rosario’s family, friends, management, and team.