Shane del Rosario

Del Rosario was born and raised in Orange County, California, and was half-Filipino American.[1] He started training as a fighter at the age of 17 with Marco Ruas. Del Rosario then attended and graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in psychology out of UC Irvine.

Del Rosario competed as a Heavyweight in Muay Thai on the World Championship Kickboxing series of kickboxing events and In Sync Productions Inc.

On November 9, 2006, Shane Del Rosario fought Tyler Grear. After surviving a spinning backfist that stunned him in round one, Del Rosario dropped Grear with a power punch early in round two. Grear could not beat the referee's 10-count as Del Rosario was declared the winner by knockout at 16 seconds of the second round.[2]

After defeating Justin Carver by first-round knockout on January 11, 2007, Shane then fought reigning WBC Muay Thai International Heavyweight Champion Ricardo van den Bos for the vacant WBC Muay Thai World Heavyweight Championship. Del Rosario dominated van den Bos throughout the majority of the bout. After dropping van den Bos twice in round number two, Del Rosario landed a knee that finished Ricardo van den Bos at the last second of the round. He was then declared the winner by knockout at 3:00 of round two and the new WBC Muay Thai World Heavyweight Champion. He would also become the first American to have won the WBC Muay Thai World Heavyweight title.[3]

Del Rosario's first career loss came in his first title defense against Dutch kickboxer Ginty Vrede. Going into the bout as the fan favorite, he appeared to hurt Vrede in the opening round. Vrede came back with a powerful hook that stunned del Rosario and forced a standing eight-count by referee Steve Mazzagatti. After beating the count, del Rosario was dropped by an immediate high kick. The referee stopped the fight at 2:24 of the first round and declared Vrede the new WBC Muay Thai World Heavyweight Champion.[4]

Following Vrede's death, the WBC World Heavyweight Championship was vacated. Del Rosario then knocked out Mexican kickboxer Ricardo Romero at 1:20 in the second round on July 26, 2008 to win the title for a second time.[5]

Shane del Rosario transitioned into mixed martial arts in 2006 when he made his debut for mixed martial arts promotion King of the Cage. He then competed for notable promotions including EliteXC, M-1 Global and Strikeforce.

On November 26, 2013, del Rosario was hospitalized at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, California after suffering full cardiac arrest following two heart attacks.[18] According to Del Rosario's manager, Jason House, in a statement to Sherdog.com, del Rosario suffered a catastrophic cardiovascular collapse at home and was rushed to the hospital, where he was resuscitated in the emergency room back to a stable heart rhythm and blood pressure. According to Erik Apple, a training partner who had known del Rosario since they were in high school, del Rosario's liver and kidneys were not functioning and he had been put on dialysis.

ESPN reported del Rosario had died on November 28,[19] and this was repeated in various outlets. The credited author denied having written the story,[20] and later reported del Rosario alive, though without brain activity.[21] On November 30, del Rosario was taken off life support and breathing on his own. He also registered brain activity and squeezed his mother's hand.[22] Despite the improvements in his condition, del Rosario died on December 9, 2013.[23][24]

A drug toxicology screen performed at the time of del Rosario's death indicated that he had recently used cocaine and opiates. However, the immediate causes of death listed on his death certificate are anoxic encephalopathy, ventricular fibrillation and Long QT Syndrome, and additionally that "other significant conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause" were cocaine and opiates.[25]

• List of current UFC fighters

• Shane del Rosario at IMDb
• Professional MMA record for Shane del Rosario from Sherdog
• Shane del Rosario at UFC