Justin Eilers fatally died after being shot Friday morning, Dec 26 at an acquaintance’s home, Canyon County, Idaho. He was 30 years old.

Canyon County Sheriffs arrived at the house at 10:44pm MT and find Eilers lying motionlessly on the room floor. Eilers died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.

According to reports, the suspect is James Malec, boyfriend of Eilers’ mom. As Eilers, relatives and friends were gathering to celebrate Christmas on Dec, 26 in his acquaintance’s home and Eilers started having an argument between with his ex-girlfriend, who was also present at the residence. The dispute then escalated, culminating with James Malec and the shooting took place with several family members witnessing.

Malec has been arrested and charged with second degree murder and held on $1 million bail.

Justin Eilers was an American professional mixed martial arts fighter, formerly with the UFC and WEC. Eilers trained with Miletich Fighting Systems in Bettendorf, IA.

He was recruited to Miletich Fighting Systems by Jens Pulver, eventually making his MMA debut in late-2002. He holds a 19-7-1 record as a professional fighter, including a 1-3 mark in the UFC. Following an 8-2-1 start to his career, Eilers debuted in the octagon, stopping Mike Kyle via first-round knockout. Despite losing to Paul Buentello at UFC 51, Eilers challenged Andrei Arlovski for the heavyweight title, losing in the first-round due to a knee injury. A third-consecutive loss suffered to Brandon Vera marked Eilers’ last appearance in the UFC but after winning 10 of his next 11 bouts Eilers challenged Antonio Silva for the first-ever EliteXC heavyweight championship, losing via second-round TKO.