UFC Raulian Paiva and his girlfriend Tielly Alves were reportedly being harassed by two men from within a club in Santana, Brazil on Oct. 21. The couple left the club on their motorcycle, but were allegedly followed by the two men.
After coming to a full stop at a nearby red light, the motorcycle was struck by a vehicle from behind. Paiva suffered only minor injuries. However, the fighter’s significant other has since been declared brain dead after having slipped into a coma. The vehicle involved in the incident caught on fire from the crash.
The man driving the vehicle went on to claim that his front side passenger jerked the steering wheel to send the vehicle on a collision course with the motorcycle. Two men have since been arrested in relation to the incident.
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Speaking to MMA Fighting, Raulian Paiva has since come forward to reveal that he nearly retired from fighting after the incident.
“The party at the night club was over and we went to a bar nearby. This guy started to harass her, but we paid no attention to it to avoid any confusion, I ignored him trying to grope her. Then, they started saying ‘oh, you’re the UFC fighter, let’s see if you’re good at fighting.’ I pretended I wasn’t listening. After some time, they crossed the street and kept drinking on the other side of the street.
“Some time later, they threw a beer can in my direction and some beer spilled on my face. I put my helmet on and said ‘baby, let’s get out go here because they are looking for trouble.’ As soon as I did that, they crossed the street holding broken bottles and stood in front of my motorcycle, and the guy that started it all came with a vodka bottle to hit me. A friend of mine stood between us and was hit by the bottle. I saw my friend bleeding and told a friend to call the police. When I said ‘police,’ they all backed up a bit, just enough for me to hop on my motorcycle and get out of there.
“We left, I looked in the mirror and didn’t see anyone coming after us. When I got to the red light, I slowed down, and that’s when I saw some lights in the mirror. I tried to move my motorcycle to the side so it would only hit me, not Tieli, but it hit the rear of the motorcycle. From that point on, I don’t remember anything. I only remember being on the ground and seeing her bleeding.”
“My life has no meaning anymore, really. But she always said she didn’t want to see me give up. She was very proud of what I have accomplished, she was thrilled with this fight on the Contender Series, and her parents told me that I shouldn’t give up because she was proud that I had made it to the UFC. If it’s over for me, I should fight for her, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll cool my head now, come back to training and then fight again.”
”I’ve made a promise that I will make the whole world know her story,” Paiva said. “I have to do that for her. I want to fight, and I want to fight for the title soon.”
As provided by correioamapaense.com.br, photos from the incident can be seen down below. A video of the incident is available above.
