Medet Zheenaliev, an MMA star who competed in Russia, died at the age of 30 this week after jumping to the rescue of four teenage girls in trouble in a lake, according to The Sun.
Zheenaliev was enjoying time with friends at Lake Issyk-Kul in his native Kyrgyzstan when he noticed one of the girls in trouble and struggling due to a strong current.
The MMA star and a friend helped the four girls return to shore, but Zheenaliev went under the surface of the water and did not return.
Divers found his body at the bottom of the lake, the eighth-deepest and eleventh-largest in the world, the following day.
The outlet is reporting that his death has been labeled a drowning during a rescue mission.
Zheenaliev competed in four MMA fights in his career which lasted from 2017-2019, posting a record of 2-2.
Former MMA fighter Medet Zheenaliev has died after trying to save four drowning girls
Zheenaliev and a friend jumped in to save the girls who struggled in the waters of Lake Issyk-Kul in his native Kyrgyzstan. While the girls made it to shore, Zheenaliev didn’t re-surface.
He began his career with a victory over Vladimir Kravchuk via an arm-bar submission in the first round.
Six months later, he would follow that up with another first-round victory – this time, via knockout – to defeat Shamil Temirkhanov.
Zheenaliev would fight again a month later, but would suffer defeat by submission at the hands of Akhmadkhan Bokov in the second round.
He didn’t fight again for another 16 months, ending his career in August of 2019 when he lost due to a doctors stoppage after the first round.
Zheenaliev was set to fight a fifth bout in September 2019, according to his page on tapology.com. However, that fight against Samray Shaykhamodov was cancelled for an unspecified reason.
