This past Sunday morning, recently signed UFC fighter Raulian Paiva and his girlfriend where serious injured after being struck by a car in the town of Santana, Brazil according to Globo Esporte.
The report states that Paiva and his girlfriend, Tielly Alves, were at a bar when two men harassed Alves, which prompted the duo to leave the bar.
Paiva and Alves left on a motorcycle and were apparently followed by the two men in a car and when Paiva stopped at a red light, both he and the girlfriend were struck by the following vehicle. Paiva didn’t suffer any serious injuries, but Alves is still in a coma as of this writing.
Tiago Okamura issued the following statement to MMA Fighting about the situation:
“When the car hit them, looks like Raulian fell off the motorcycle so he just got injured from the fall, but the car dragged the motorcycle with her on it for some time. He’s a bit hurt, but nothing serious. She’s still in coma. That was uncalled for, they had no motives. These guys tried to kill them for no reason.”
Ronildo Nobre is Paiva’s coach and he has also told MMA Fighting that the two men who were in the car have been arrested. The unidentified man who drove the vehicle claims that he didn’t want to hit the couple, but it was the other person in the passenger seat who took control of the steering wheel and struck the couple.
A video has surfaced showing the motorcycle being dragged by the car and that can be viewed by clicking here.
Shortly after the initial story above was posted, it was revealed by AG Fight that the hospital that is treating Alves has declared her brain dead.
AG Fight also got the following statement from Paiva, describing what happened on that fateful night:
“Thank God we have support of all our friends. There was this fat guy at the club, he was the one who started it all, he was messing with my girlfriend. I grabbed her by the waist and walked away, I wanted to avoid an altercation. A few minutes later, that guy and his friends got even drunker and they threw a beer can at me from the other side of the street. It didn’t hit me, but it almost did. That was when I told my girlfriend and my friends that it was time for us to leave. When I put on my helmet and was about to sit on my bike, they cut me off,” he continued. “The guy who messed with my girlfriend and his friends blocked my motorcycle. They had empty beer bottles which they broke and tried to stab me with. I said I was going to call the cops and they backed off, I took that opportunity to leave. I was at ease then, I didn’t notice anyone following me. When I stopped at a red light, all I could see was the headlights’ reflection in my rear view mirror, that’s I realized a car coming to hit us, but there was no time to react. I tried to move the bike to make the car hit me and not Tielly, you know? But there was no time, they hit us with full force.”
In a tragic ending to this story, a report from MMA Fighting has stated that Alves has passed away from the injuries suffered in the motorcycle accicent.
A grieving Paiva would take to Instagram to say the following:
Here is a translation of what Paiva wrote, rpovided by Google Translate:
"Our first picture taken together, my love, how I miss you. I know you were a guardian angel in mine, I know you're in a good place now I can not accept it, I can not live without your presence beside me, my princess. I will always love you and you will always be my girlfriend! Love you forever!!"
