Luiz Gustavo was only 14 when he hit rock bottom.
A future prospect in mixed martial arts, Gustavo witnessed his father, Luiz Marcelo, get shot and killed by his ex-business partner in Parana, Brazil. Marcelo had recently ended his partnership in the real estate business and was owed around $5,500, and Gustavo says that’s the reason why his father was murdered.
”I was mowing the lawn and his ex-partner got to our house completely drunk and asked me to call my father,” Gustavo told MMA Fighting. “They started to argue and then this guy picked up a gun and shot my dad.