MMA veteran Diego Braga, father of PFL finalist Gabriel Braga, murdered in Brazil by a gang over a stolen motorcycle

Retired MMA fighter Diego Braga was murdered in a Brazil slum by a gang member after he tried to recover his stolen motorcycle, police said.

Braga, 44, discovered his bike was stolen from his residence Monday around 3am and found it in a Rio de Janeiro slum in the western neighborhood of Itanhangá.

Diego Braga, veterano do MMA: Meus amigos, minha moto foi roubada na madrugada de ontem em Mozima, dentro da minha garagem! Por favor partilhem e ajudem-me a encontrar estes vagabundos e recuperar a minha bicicleta!!#jiujitsu #bjj #grappling #martialarts pic.twitter.com/QKeO3rs3Yc

— mmamag.ma (@jamalsoussi10) January 17, 2024

He went to the neighborhood alone, where he confronted a group of drug dealers, who assaulted and killed him. His body was found Monday evening.

According to eyewitnesses, Braga decided to go to a slum in search of the bike, but members of the Comando Vermelho criminal gang mistook him for a member of a rival gang and killed him on the spot.

According to the latest report from Brazilian media outlet G1, police arrested an 18-year-old man named Tawa da Silva on Tuesday morning.
Police said he admitted his involvement in Braga’s murder, saying the mixed martial arts fighter had gone to the Morro do Banco favela looking for his stolen motorcycle.

Da Silva added that the gang members decided to kill him after seeing the rival gang members’ phone numbers on his phone.

Braga grew up in Rio das Piedras, an area dominated by criminal gangs and militias.

He is the father of Gabriel Braga, a young fighter who reached the PFL finals in Brazil.

Diego Braga was an active MMA fighter between 2003 and 2014, facing Charles Oliveira, Milton Vieira, and Adriano Martinez, all of whom ended up competing in the UFC.

Braga has trained Anderson Silva in several of his recent UFC fights and shared the card with his son Gabriel at Future MMA 7 in 2019.