The MMA world received tragic news on Sunday evening as ONE Championship bantamweight fighter Casey Suire passed away after being in a motorcycle accident in Indonesia.
ONE President Victor Cui released a statement on the promotions Facebook page.
“My first reaction was the information must be wrong. He’s only 40 years old. He’s a passionate teammate. He’s a talented and respected athlete with ONE. It’s not fair. It’s not right. I thought the information must be wrong, I prayed for it to be wrong, but sadly it wasn’t.
I first met Casey a little over 4 years ago at a press conference. He’d already started to build a reputation in Indonesia as an exciting athlete and he continued to prove that in his career with ONE. He was talented but not arrogant, he was a focused athlete but you could see in his interactions with his teammates that he had an equal passion for life. An incredible human being, I wish I’d had more time with Casey, a little more time to get to know him myself.
On behalf of ONE Championship, I extend our deepest condolences to Casey’s family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and loved ones during these hard times. I also want to thank all sports fans around the world for their concern, thoughts and prayers. At this point, we ask that everyone respect the Suire family’s privacy as they mourn the loss of their beloved son and brother.”
Suire, 40, had a career record of 6-2. He won the first five fights of his career. The Jakarta Muay Thai & MMA fighter had most recently fought in August defeating Junpeng Xie by split decision.
Our condolences go out Suire’s family.
