Remembering Theodorou, who won inside and outside the cage

TORONTO — Elias (The Spartan) Theodorou, a charismatic mixed martial artist who campaigned successfully for the right to use medical marijuana as an athlete, has died. He was 34.

Jess Moran, his publicist confirmed that the former UFC fighter died Sunday in Toronto of liver cancer.

Theodorou, from Mississauga, Ont., packed a lot into his all-too-short life. He was an athlete, actor, model, stuntman, dancer, TV pitchman, Harlequin romance cover boy and cannabis advocate. He did it all with a smile.

"Your mom's favourite book cover. Your son's favourite fighter," Theodorou's Twitter bio read back in the day.

TSN fight analyst Robin Black, a friend and former fighter himself, said Theodorou had not shared his cancer diagnosis publicly. Black reckons Theodorou made that choice "because he couldn't bear to make people sad."

"He was a really really really special guy," said Black.

"A positive energy if ever there was one, a man who almost always flashed a winning smile, a man who spoke out about what he believed in," Canadian fighter Sarah Kaufman said on social media.

Theodorou took up MMA in 2009 after his first year at Humber College, where he studied creative advertising.

He made his pro debut in June 2011 and was 8-0-0 in 2013 when he joined the cast of "The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia," an edition of the UFC's reality TV show featuring teams of aspiring Canadian and Australian MMA fighters.

Theodorou and 15 other fighters spent six weeks filming in a lodge in the woods about an hour outside of Montreal.

"It was an interesting and amazing experience," Theodorou said later.

But not without its drawbacks.

"I missed women," he added with no shortage of enthusiasm.

Theodorou earned his UFC contract in