Man sentenced to 16 years in prison for murder of Tieli Alves, girlfriend of UFC flyweight Raulian Paiva

Elber Nunes Zacheu, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder of Tieli Alves, the girlfriend of UFC fighter, Raulian Paiva, as well as the attempted murder of the Brazilian flyweight, and the striking of another male with a glass bottle.

Paiva, and his late girlfriend, Alves, are said to have left a nightclub in Santana, Brazil on October 21. 2018, avoiding an attempted altercation with the aforenoted, Zacheu, and another male, Johny de Souza Amoras. 

Travelling via motorcycle, Paiva is said to have been struck by a vehicle at a red light, with Alves’ helmet coming off during the incident, before she was dragged by the car containing Zacheu for “at least 64 feet.” Alves would pass away six days after the collision. 

Zacheu, the male sentenced to 16 years in prison, was travelling in the passenger seat of the vehicle which struck Paiva’s motorcycle, while Amoras is alleged to have been operating the motor vehicle. Amoras was arrested a day before Zacheu’s trial, and is set for his own trial proceedings next year. 

Raulian Paiva voices his displeasure with the sentence issued to Elber Nunes Zacheu

Commenting on the sentencing of Zacheu, Paiva told MMA Fighting how he was not happy with the length of prison sentence handed down to the former.

“That’s not enough time for what he (Zacheu) did – the crime he committed, but justic is being done,” Raulian Paiva said. “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,” Raulian Paiva explained. “He’s the one that was driving the car and did what he did to us.” 

Santana native, Paiva’s most recent Octagon outing came in the form of an appearance at UFC Vegas 58 back in June of this year at the UFC Apex facility.