Controversial veteran promoter Jamie Levine died on Tuesday, Jan 14, due to blood clots, at the age of 46. He leaves two sons, Cody and Xander.

Services Information

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Woodlawn Memorial Park & Funeral Home

400 Woodlawn Cemetery Road

Gotha, FL 34734

Visitation will be held from 1:00 to 2:00 pm with a service to follow at 2:00 pm.

Following the funeral service the family has invited guests to stay from 3:00 to 5:00pm to continue to celebrate Jamie’s life.

Condolences can be left at legacy.com

The news broke via Facebook, where various details emerged.

Levine, who had recently had back surgery, called a friend and reported he was not feeling well, thought he was having a heart attack, and had called an ambulance. He died en route to the hospital.

“I’m flabbergasted and hurting,” posted veteran heavyweight Tom Sauer. “He was definitely generous to his friends and a great promoter of the sport of MMA… I am honestly at a loss for words only sadness comes to mind sometimes life doesn’t make sense….God bless him…”

Longtime coach Ross Kellin recalled Levine’s enormous contribution to the sport.

“People really don’t understand how much of an impact he made on the mma world,” wrote Kellin. “At one time he (WEF) was bigger then the UFC!”

Levines’ girlfriend, posting under Jamie’s Facebook account, had a simple request.

“Thank you all. Please keep him and his family in your prayers,” she wrote.

Levine founded World Extreme Fighting (WEF) in 1997, making it the fourth longest continuously running MMA promotion in the world. Across 47 shows, countless fighters went on to compete in the UFC, including Rich Franklin, Jeremy Horn, Matt Hughes, Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons, Pat Miletich, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Jens Pulver, Dan Severn, Maurice Smith, and Din Thomas. Levine also fought professionally, with a 4-0 record.

Levine was also a source of controversy over various ethical and legal lapses, but his contributions to MMA are enormous, and he will be remembered warmly by many.