Justin Levens and his wife found dead at home

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Thursday, December 18, 2008

by Loretta Hunt ([email protected]) (Photos by Jeff Sherwood)

 

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Light heavyweight Justin Levens and his wife Sara McLean-Levens were found dead Wednesday from gunshot wounds in their home in Laguna Niguel, Calif., the Orange County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed to Sherdog.com. Levens was 28 years old.

 

“Preliminarily, until they finish the investigation, it is being looked at as a murder-suicide,” said Lt. V. Wilson.

 

Wilson said deputies and investigators were dispatched to the residence Wednesday after being informed of the deaths. Wilson would not identify who had found the bodies and/or contacted authorities, though a CBS 2 online report said the mother of the deceased female had discovered the bodies and called police, who arrived around 2:30 p.m. PST.

 

An investigation into the deaths was opened on Wednesday, which Wilson described as “ongoing.”

 

A standout on the central California circuit, Levens found early success in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion and went undefeated in his first seven fights.

 

Levens made his Octagon debut against Evan Tanner at UFC 59 in September 2006, but lost to the seasoned veteran via a first-round triangle choke submission.

 

A stint with the IFL followed, where Levens fought for his mentor Marco Ruas’ Southern California Condors’ team and went 0-3.

 

Levens was scheduled to face Ray Lazama at Affliction "Banned" on July 19 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., but the bout was cancelled that night due to time constraints. The California State Atheltic Commission later announced that Levens had tested positive for the painkiller oxymorphone during pre-fight testing.

 

In his last bout, Levens (9-8) was submitted in the first round by Kenny Ento at the Palace Fighting Championships in Lemoore, Calif.

 

Source: Sherdog

[Lei Tong]

Not as fucked up as the Rafiel Torre situation, but still pretty bad.

[migoli]

Kind of surprised this isnt being blown up like the Beniot thing was. Guess the kid made it that much worse.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Justin Levens doesn't have a tenth of the name recognition that Benoit has. You'd think though that there still are some in the media that want to see MMA fail that they would blow this up.

[Lord of The Curry]

Shitty that it's happened but then again this is hardly new news as far as suburban crimes go.

 

The obligatory "Justin was a great fighter" tributes coming out are outright laughable though.

[Lt. Al Giardello]

Shitty that it's happened but then again this is hardly new news as far as suburban crimes go.

 

The obligatory "Justin was a great fighter" tributes coming out are outright laughable though.

 

He was 2-8 in his last 10 bouts, he was pretty sub-par fighter. Anyone who hypes Levens up to be a great fighter is a giant n00b.

 

No this will not get the news coverage like Benoit's murder/sucide, because Levens was a journey fighter where as Benoit was one of the best in his respected profession.

 

But this is still getting the coverage it deserves.

[Lord of The Curry]

I can't see how any murder/suicide situation deserves coverage, period. But okay. This is no different from Joe Lawyer butchering Sally Housewife and then offing himself.

[Lei Tong]

The Benoit murder also had a lot more sensationalism to it: the extended nature of the crime, the weird Bible shit, the speculation over whether he might've used his own pro-wrestling hold to kill his kid. This is simply like any other sad murder/suicide you might read about in the local paper.

 

Even the aforementioned Torre case had an affair, a life-insurance plot, attempts to outsource the murder, and most damning of all, the perp using a BJJ technique to murder the victim. If people were going to use an MMA fighter committing a crime to damn the sport as a whole, that would've been a much better example.

[Lord of The Curry]

Seeing as how I'm unfamiliar with the case I'm curious enough to ask....which BJJ technique?

[Lei Tong]

Torre ended up choking the guy to death with a RNC, after he failed to bribe fellow MMA fighter Gerald Strebendt to commit the crime, IIRC. He later told Gerald it was in self-defense after the victim pulled a gun on him after learning of the affair. Torre supposedly asked Gerald to provide him with an alibi and to hide the guy's gun.

[Shooter in a Wedding Dress]

Not everyone has the same bad taste with MMA like they do with wrestling and I think it's safe to say McMahon hasn't made too many friends at places like ESPN over the years.

 

It got on the ESPN scroll today, and I'm sure they'll mention it at some point, but with MMA as hot as it is right now and not being marred by too many controversies I can see them not running too far with this in hopes of future deals with MMA orginizations.