Holando Pinheiro da Silva, father of MMA legend and current UFC middleweight Wanderlei Silva, was tragically killed yesterday in a car accident in Silva's homeland of Brazil.

Silva, who now resides in Las Vegas, has taken leave from training to travel to Brazil in order to be with his family.

"Thank you for the strength my brothers please pray for our family time and more difficult still as well that we have the support of God," Silva tweeted. "Thanks for all prays all MSG all support my guys sad day, thanks for your help again."

Silva (34-12) is coming off of a razor thin decision loss to Rich Franklin in his last outing and has hinted that he already has another opponent for an upcoming contest. However the UFC has yet to announce the match up and it is unclear how this tragedy will impact those plans. 

Interestingly, Silva posted a video just 5 days ago featuring his father and discussing his childhood and family. You can few that piece in our video section by clicking here.