#7
Antonio Silva
“Big Foot”
Record: 16-2
Age: 31
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 265 lbs
Fighting out of: Paraíba, Brazil
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo
He is 16–2 in his MMA career, with his two losses at the hands of Eric Pele, which some feel was an early stoppage and Fabricio Werdum scored 29–28 in favor of Werdum.
Antonio Silva began his career representing the Wolfslair MMA Academy in 2005 located in the United Kingdom. In 2006, he departed from the team after his bout with Tadas Rinkevicius. The Wolfslair gym requested to Silva's instructor Mario Neto for Silva to leave the team and return to Brazil. The gym claims Bigfoot owed them over £20,000, however, Silva states that they owed him a total of £6,000 in fighter purses after two fights in which he was promised £3,000 for each fight. After training with Brazilian Top Team in the meantime, Antonio Silva would then join as an official member of American Top Team located in Coconut Creek, Florida.[3] Silva is also a member of the Imperial Athletics gym in Boca Raton, Florida where he spent his fight camp training for his bout with Fedor Emelianenko in the quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix Heavyweight Tournament.[4]
On February 10, 2007, Silva made his EliteXC debut at EliteXC: Destiny against UFC veteran Wesley Correira. Silva won the bout by TKO due to strikes in the first round. He followed his performance up by defeating Jonathan Wiezorek at EliteXC: Renegade by rear naked choke in the first round. His next victory was attained by defeating former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez.
On July 26, 2008, Silva won the EliteXC Heavyweight title with a second round TKO over late UFC veteran Justin Eilers. Silva later tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone, and was suspended for 1 year and fined $2500.00 by the California State Athletic Commission.[5] According to Silva's manager, the positive test results for boldenone was caused by his use of Novadex, a testosterone-booster that Silva uses to counteract the low testosterone levels caused by his acromegaly. "He has to treat it", said Alex Davis. "He spends between $6,000 and $8,000 a month just on medicine for it. He needs to be able to keep fighting to make a living. If it's between Antonio's health and pleasing the athletic commission, we have to choose his health."[6]
Soon after his positive steroid test in California, Silva signed on to fight at Sengoku 7. He was advised not to fight in Japan by the California State Athletic Commission, however he ignored this request, and continued to claim that he had not used steroids. Despite pressure from the California State Athletic Commission and his peers, on January 4, 2009, Silva stepped into the ring against Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao, at Sengoku 7 in Japan. Silva won an anticlimactic bout by TKO when his opponent suffered a knee injury in the first round.
At Sengoku 10 he fought Jim York, where he won by submission in the first round. With both fighters looking tentative on the feet, Silva took his opponent down once but was stood up by the referee. Later in the round, he took York down again, assuming the half-guard position, and landing some effective hammer fists and punches until moving for an arm triangle choke which he secured when he gained the side control position, securing his victory.
On November 7, 2009, Antonio Silva was handed the second loss of his career, a decision to Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers. After dominating the first round, Bigfoot reportedly fractured his left hand in the beginning of the second round.[7][8][9]
Silva defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski on May 15, 2010, at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery.[10] He won the fight via decision.
He was scheduled to fight Valentijn Overeem on Dec. 4, but Overeem suffered an injury that caused him to withdraw from the fight.[11] Overeem, was replaced by Mike Kyle.[12] Silva was dropped in the first round by a punch from Kyle but ultimately managed to survive Kyle's ground and pound and recover. In the second round, Silva acquired the mount on Kyle and forced a TKO stoppage.
Silva defeated Fedor Emelianenko in the Quarter final of the 2011 Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament by means of doctor stoppage at the end of the second round. With the win he is now expected to face the winner of the Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum fight in the Semi-Finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.
Cage Rage
Cage Rage World Heavyweight Championship (One Time, Last)
Cage Warriors
Cage Warriors Super Heavyweight Championship (One Time)
EliteXC
EliteXC Heavyweight Championship (One Time, First, Last)
