10 UFC Fighters Who Died This Past Decade

10. Sherman Pendergarst

Sherman 'The Tank' Pendergarst was a heavyweight fighter out of Baltimore, Maryland. He was an outstanding athlete in high school who would go on to wrestle at that collegiate level for Old Dominion University.

After college, 'The Tank' began training at the Miletich Fighting Systems camp, which produced several former UFC champions, including Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler.

Pendergarst's career got off to a nice start, and after amassing a solid 8-3 record, he would get his chance to fight in the UFC in 2006. The former college wrestler made his promotional debut at UFC 65, where he took on Antoni Hardonk. However, things didn't go so well for Pendergarst, who suffered a TKO loss (via leg kicks) midway through the first round. The bout with Hardonk would be his only fight in the UFC.

The Baltimore native fought on for roughly five more years but struggled to get his career back on track. His professional record would end up being 11-18 (1).

In 2011, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Despite the diagnosis, the ultra-tough heavyweight competed one last time before succumbing to the illness in July of 2012 at the age of 45.