A rumor that beleaguered Dutch-born Morroccan K-1 star Badr Hari had died today in an accident that took place in his African homeland has been laid to rest by reps from It’s Showtime – the promotion he is currently contracted to.

The story began on a thread on a Dutch forum (which has now been taken down) where a disturbing headshot photo reportedly of Badr dead and covered with blood was also posted and the story quickly grew legs and spread amongst the MMA community. Much like a similar rumor that made the rounds about Kimo Leopoldo last July and was picked up by several mainstream sites including CNN and TMZ,  the Hari story was given credence by the fact that nobody could locate the kickboxer.

The rumor was eventually refuted by the tweet above posted on It’s Showtime’s Twitter page.

You can check out the photo that helped propel the story after the jump, but we’ll warn you that it isn’t pretty and it’s obviously someone dead or severely injured. We’ve included a pic of Hari for comparison.

(‘Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, you pussies.’)

The bad news is, we’ve been duped.  The good news is, we can now resume making insensitive jokes about Kimo Leopoldo.  Yes, it turns out that Kimo isn’t really dead after all, or at the very least has been resurrected to walk the earth as some kind of terrifying zombie.  Despite premature eulogies from the New York Daily News, the Orange County Register, and us, among many others, Leopoldo is said to be alive and reasonably well, though that’s about as much information as anyone seems to have or need about him and his current whereabouts.

This isn’t officially confirmed yet, but we thought we’d pass on the news that multiple sources are reporting this morning claiming that former UFC fighter Kimo Leopoldo has died from complications resulting from a heart attack.  Details at this point are still rather hazy, but if true this marks a sad end for the fighter with an often tumultuous life in and out of the cage.  He was 41 years old.

Leopoldo recently found himself in the news after an arrest for drug possession in southern California.  Before that he made a very public run for the Executive Officer position within the California State Athletic Commission, where he hoped to turn his past record for steroid use into an asset rather than a liability.  There’s no indication yet whether drugs might have played a role in his death.  More on this as it becomes available.