Raulian Paiva and Tieli Alves

Raulian Paiva and Tieli Alves

Elber Nunes Zacheu sentenced to 16 years in prison for murder of Tieli Alves, attempted murder of UFC fighter Raulian Paiva

Elber Nunes Zacheu has been sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison for the murder of Tieli Alves, the girlfriend of UFC fighter Raulian Paiva, in Santana, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2018.

According to a report from Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting, “Paiva and Alves left a night club after Zacheu and another man, Johny de Souza Amoras, tried to pick a fight with him. Paiva stopped his motorcycle at a red light and was hit by the car. Alves’ helmet went off on the fall, and she was dragged by the car for ‘at least 65 feet.’ Alves died six days later.

“Zacheu was in the passenger’s seat of the car that struck Paiva’s motorcycle from behind. Amoras, who was allegedly driving the car, was a fugitive since 2019, but was arrested a day before Zacheu’s trial. He’s expected to go to trial in 2023.”

His sentence also includes attempted murder charges against Paiva and hitting a man with a bottle.

“That’s not enough time for what he did, the crime he committed, but justice is being done,” Paiva told MMA Fighting. “Justice is flawed in Brazil, but I hope he pays for what he did. We can’t do anything else. We’re happy he’ll be in prison. Not for long, but he will be in prison. Nothing will bring Tieli back to life, but at least he’ll stay in prison for 16 years.

“Now we’ll wait for Johny’s trial next year, and we hope he gets at least 20 years. He’s the one that was driving the car and did what he did to us.”

Paiva earned a spot on the UFC roster after defeating Allan Nascimento on Dana White’s Contender Series just two months prior to the incident.

Since then, Paiva has fought six times for the UFC, splitting his record at three wins and three losses. His overall professional mixed martial arts record is 21-5. He has not fought since his June loss to Sergey Morozov.

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