Wanderlei Silva Loses Father in Tragic Car Accident

Former Pride champion and current UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva recently took the hardest blow of his storied career, losing his father, who died in a tragic car accident.

Holando Pinheiro da Silva died Sunday in a head-on collision while driving in the Brazilian state of Paraná, according to a report from Gracie Magazine, which cited local Brazilian news sources.

Wanderlei had been in his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, recently, visiting his family. He took fans on a tour of where he used to live and introduced much of his family, including his father, who is featured extensively in the video below.

Wanderlei was at his home in Las Vegas when he found out about the tragedy and is of course headed home for his father’s burial.

The outpouring of support for the legendary fighter was immediate, coming in waves via the popular social media site Twitter, where Wanderlei is a very active participant, constantly communicating with his fans.

“I haven’t the words to thank you all for your support. We end up not knowing what to do, but it’s at times like this that we know who is on our side. Thank you very much,” Wand posted in Portuguese over Twitter.

Wanderlei had recently been rumored for a possible fight with Patrick Cote at UFC on Fuel TV 6 in Macau, China.

The MMAWeekly.com staff sends our sincere condolences to Wanderlei and his family.