Luiz de Franca, an MMA fighter who competes as a welterweight from Kimura Nova Uniao team, was murdered inside his gym. Luiz de Franca, who also worked as a teacher at the Alta Performance gym in Natal, was shot several times.

According to reports, the main suspect in the murder is a police lieutenant who used to train at the Alta Performance gym, but he was excluded 15 days ago because of alleged police brutality cases. The local police revealed that the crime was caught on tape, but they have yet to detail if it was actually a police officer that killed the Luiz de Franca.

Police colonel Lenildo Sena, who is investigating the crime, told reporters that the suspect has suffered from depression in the past, but hasn't showed signs of psychological problems recently.

UFC middleweight Ronny Markes, a teammate of Luiz de Franca at Kimura Nova Uniao, posted on his Facebook page "It was a cowardly act, really sad to see a guy full of life, that always helped everybody, die like that. I want justice."

Luiz De Franca started his MMA career as an amateur, competing at the Tuff-N-Uff cage. He was training with Wanderlei Silva is Las Vegas at the time. Luiz De France went 0-2 as an amateur before moving back to Brazil.

Wanderlei Silva posted on his Facebook page. "I'm really sad, Luiz de Franca, who trained with us in Las Vegas for almost a year, was brutally murdered this Monday morning in Natal. He was only 25 and never got himself in trouble. He was a good kid."

Luiz De Franca made his professional MMA debut in December of 2012, submitting Diego "Mad Dog" with an arm-triangle choke. He fought twice last 2013, finishing Anderson Nicolas Muniz da Silva and Jefferson Silva.

Luiz de Franca's "Alta Performance" where he was shot is located 13 miles away from "Ginasio Nelio Dias", the arena that will host "UFC Fight Night: Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson" on March 23.