The world of MMA has lost a friend and talented journalist, Eddie Constantine, 31. Known as "Fast Eddie" in his circle of friends, Eddie was an MMA journalist working for PROMMAnow.com. I met Eddie in person at Strikeforce 10-Melendez vs. Thomson, after building a report with him from chatting in TAGG radio’s chat room. We immediately hit it off as friends as he lacked any pretentious qualities as a down to earth individual.

Unfortunately, Eddie committed suicide on January 25^th, leaving behind friends and family to grieve his loss. It was reported that he was found by several of his friends who stopped by check on him at his home in Los Gatos, California.

Training himself and others in the sport of jiu-jitsu was a big part of his life, as he trained women’s self defense classes, as well as his friends at his home. Eddie was a purple belt under Renzo Gracie, and recently had begun a dedicated training program, which involved a contest that was dubbed “MMA’s biggest loser”. The contest was a weight loss competition with MMAJunkie.com’s John Morgan.

Training under Dave Camarillo at his Guerilla jiu-jitsu academy in Pleasanton as of late, he had a great relationship with his trainer and all those who trained with him.

Eddie’s welcoming personality drew many people to him, I being one of them. Covering weigh-ins and fights, I looked forward to seeing my buddy and colleague knowing I would get a big hug and a boisterous “What’s up bro?” Our meetings were always pleasant and lead into conversation about the latest and greatest in the world of MMA, always sharing whatever information we could with each other.

Passion, guts and courage are what it takes to be a journalist in the world’s toughest sport. Long hours, little to no pay, and a full time day job kept Eddie very busy. Not too busy to report on the sport and the people that he loved to be around. His personality and passion spoke for itself, and many people in the industry grew to respect him for it. He never had a problem finding fighters to interview, or gaining press credentials to events in the area because of it.

The world of MMA does not lend itself well to outsiders. Eddie, without question, was an insider. Interviewing anyone and everyone, from Champions, to first timer fighters, he never turned his nose up to people or opportunities. Anyone who visited local gyms with regular frequency was sure to have met Eddie, as he knew pretty much everyone there is to know at various different gyms in the Bay Area.

Eddie had many friends and fans, and I cannot express how it has affected them. I can speak for myself and say that I am very saddened by this turn of events. I walked around numb yesterday, as I was sent a link from a friend to an article written by Danny Acosta of FIGHT! magazine. I simply stared at the heading in disbelief, not wanting to click on it, somehow hoping that when I did, it was not the case, but it was. Eddie was not one to share or burden others with his problems, but that does not stop us for caring about him deeply, and wishing he would have leaned on any of us.

His passing is a great loss to many, and as there may be many questions as to how and why this happened, what is not in question was his presence among us, as he left a large body of his work that we can go back to visit at any time.