Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter

Alexandr Pisarev

died last Sunday allegedly as a result of opioid poisoning, sources close to the athlete told the Russian press.

"According to previous data, it was due to opioid poisoning. We still do not know where they came from and what was the cause. We will have the final results of the analyzes in a couple of days

," said a source quoted by the TASS agency.

Last Sunday Pisarev, 33, and his wife, told their relatives that they were unwell.

The athlete died in his sleep,

and his wife, also poisoned, is currently hospitalized.

According to some media,

it is suspected that the fighter was poisoned with a watermelon, a hypothesis to be confirmed

.

Research

The Instruction Committee of the Moscow region reported on its Telegram channel that "the athlete's death occurred as a result of poisoning with a substance that has not been determined."

"

The investigators inspect the scene, objects that could be significant for the investigation

are seized, forensic chemical expertise is carried out," the entity said.

The fighter, whose last fight - in which he lost to his compatriot Maxim Usoyán - took place in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in February 2020

, was the Moscow champion and a finalist in the European MMA Championship

.

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