Вандерлей Силва: Көшеден Октагонға дейін өмір жолы

Brazilian mixed martial artist

Silva's aggressive style is rooted in street brawling, refined with elements of Muay Thai and kickboxing, which he began learning at the age of 13 in Chute Boxe Academy in his hometown Curitiba. In his late teens he joined the Brazilian army and was quickly recognized for his fighting talents. He was asked to join Vale Tudo and Brazilian jiu jitsu school. Silva enlisted after already winning fight tournaments in his age group in Brazil. Silva developed scar tissue around his eyes from fighting in bare knuckle vale tudo. Silva's first professional match was on 1 November 1996, in the bare knuckle organization Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighting (BVF), where he knocked out Dilson Filho via right elbow at BVF 6. He fought in one other match in BVF, BVF 10 on 1 July 1997, against Marcelo Barbosa, who submitted due to a shoulder injury. Silva fought six matches in four different International Vale Tudo Championship events, IVC 2, IVC 6, IVC 9 and IVC 10, from 1997 to 1999. He won five of these matches by KO/TKO, with his one loss being the result of a cut stoppage against Artur Mariano in the IVC 2 show on 15 September 1997. Though Silva dominated Mariano with punches and knee strikes, the cut was above Silva's left eyelid and opened back up several times, partially because Silva continued to use the cut side of his head to inflict many headbutts on Mariano over the course of the match. The doctor observed the cut several times before the fight was ended. Waking up, Bennett struck Silva with an elbow strike knocking him down unconscious. In a night of upsets, Henderson knocked out Silva in the third round with a left hook to become the new middleweight champion. Silva was denied the ability to participate in Pride 34 due to medical suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) which made this his last Pride appearance. Silva almost never lost under pure Pride rules at 205 pounds.

On 17 August 2007, the UFC announced that they had signed Wanderlei Silva to compete in the organization and that he would return to the Octagon on 29 December 2007 at UFC 79. After months of speculation about Silva's opponent, UFC President Dana White announced that Chuck Liddell would be Silva's opponent for his return match. The long awaited match happened on 29 December 2007 at UFC 79 with Silva losing to Liddell by unanimous decision. After the fight Silva said, "Win or lose I like to give the emotion for my fans" He also added that he gave his best and promised that next time he will deliver a win. This fight earned them the Fight of the Night award. Keeping to his promise, on 24 May 2008 at UFC 84 in Las Vegas, he earned a decisive KO win against Keith Jardine at the 36 second mark of the first round, earning him a $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus award. When Jardine threw a kick, Silva countered with a right left right combo that dropped him. Silva then finished the fight with ground strikes to earn the knockout. At UFC 92, Wanderlei fought Quinton Jackson, who he had beaten twice previously in PRIDE. Jackson avenged his previous defeats by knocking Silva out with a left hook in the first round. Following the fight, Silva indicated that he would like to face Jackson again in the future. Silva faced Rich Franklin at UFC 99 at a catchweight bout of 195 lb. After a hard fought match on both sides, Silva lost via unanimous decision to Franklin. This fight earned him a $60,000 Fight of the Night award. During the second round, Silva rocked Franklin hard with punches and almost finished the fight during that moment. This was counterbalanced by Franklin dropping Silva three times in that round, each time with singular strikes. Silva then announced he would be out of action until 2010, as he underwent facial surgery to repair his nose (which was broken during Silva's second fight with Cro Cop, and then repeatedly broken again in later matches) and remove some scar tissue from above his eyes to avoid bleeding and being easily cut open during future fights. The surgery allowed him to breathe through a once completely blocked nose thus increasing his oxygen intake by 30% by doctor's estimates. At UFC 110, announcer Joe Rogan emphatically stated that Wanderlei looked like a totally different person in the wake of his recent facial reconstructive surgery. Silva made his middleweight (185 lb) debut during UFC 110 against Michael Bisping on 21 February 2010. During the fight Bisping was able to take Silva down several times during the first round, however Wanderlei came back with a flurry of punches at the end of the first round, a tight guillotine choke in the second, and a right hook that dropped Bisping in the third. After three rounds of fighting, Silva was awarded the unanimous decision victory (29–28, 29–28, and 29–28) and his first victory in almost two years. Although winning only one of his previous 6 bouts, he was slightly favored going into the fight as it was widely speculated that Bisping was apprehensive to fight toe to toe after being viciously knocked out by Dan Henderson on 11 July 2009 in UFC 100. After the fight, an emotional Silva told the audience, "In your life you have bad moments. Everybody has bad moments, but if you believe in God and working hard, good moments they’ll come". Silva attributed his success to working with his previous trainer Raphael Cordeiro. Bisping added, "Wanderlei's a great opponent  I felt the reason he got the decision was the knockdown right at the end". Silva was expected to face former K 1 HERO'S Light heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116. However, on 22 June, Silva had to pull out due to breaking three ribs during training. Akiyama would instead be fighting on the card, against Chris Leben. After Leben defeated Akiyama with a triangle choke in the third round Leben verbally called out Silva saying "Come on Wanderlei, I'll take you out too" in his post fight interview. "He represented very well, he's a good opponent," said Silva of "The Crippler." "I think if he's gonna wait that I'm gonna fight him next however Dana White has not considered a Silva/Leben fight happening anytime soon." Silva underwent knee surgery in late July 2010 and his doctors had stated that he would need to wait at least 4 months before returning to training. This meant that he would not be seen fighting in the octagon again until early 2011. Silva was scheduled to face Brian Stann at UFC 130. However, after Silva voiced his reluctance to face Stann, he was replaced on the card by returning UFC veteran Jorge Santiago. On 4 April 2011, the UFC announced that Silva's next opponent would be Chris Leben with the two scheduled to meet at UFC 132. on 2 July 2011. During the fight's first round Leben won by KO with several uppercuts before following Silva to the ground for a referees stoppage at the 27 second mark. When Dana White was asked about his thoughts on Wanderlei's possible retirement, he said he felt it would be the best time for Wanderlei to retire but in the end it is up to whether Wanderlei himself would like to fight again. Silva would fight again after replacing an injured Vitor Belfort against former Strikeforce Middleweight champion Cung Le at UFC 139. Le managed to confuse Silva with his unorthodox kicks, and landed a spinning backfist that dropped Silva. During the second round, Silva managed to shake Le with huge punches and knees that completely broke Le's nose. Le was stunned, bloody and fell to the ground, and the fight was stopped by the referee. This fight earned them a $70,000 Fight of the Night award. Afterwards in the press conference, Dana White commented that it was a good stoppage and that Cung was taken to the hospital. Silva and Vitor Belfort coached The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil A rematch with Belfort was expected to take place on 23 June 2012 at UFC 147 but due to a broken hand Vitor Belfort had to withdraw from the match. Silva faced Rich Franklin in a 190 lb catchweight at the event. Franklin and Silva fought once before at UFC 99, where Franklin won via unanimous decision. Despite Silva nearly finishing Franklin in the second round, the result was the same when the pair met for a second time at UFC 147, where Franklin again won by unanimous decision 49–46. This fight earned them a $65,000 Fight of the Night award. In an interview with Sherdog asking about his future, Silva said: "I want to either fight a catchweight bout at 198 pounds (90 kg) or at light heavyweight. At middleweight, I'm very hungry (laughs). Right now, I'm doing weight training and some shadow boxing. I'm kind of on vacation now, paying attention to the family, but next year the Wand is back." Silva faced Brian Stann in a Light heavyweight bout on 3 March 2013 at UFC on Fuel TV 8. The fight was notable as it was Silva's return to the Saitama Super Arena, where Pride FC ran the majority of its shows. Silva defeated Stann via KO in the second round in a bout that featured back and forth action, and earned both participants Fight of the Night honors. This fight also earned him the Knockout of the Night award totalling his bonus earnings to $100,000 for this fight. On 22 October 2013, it was announced that Silva will be coaching The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3, against long time rival Chael Sonnen. A bout with Sonnen, briefly attached to UFC 173, then at The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 Finale, was expected to take place on 5 July 2014 at UFC 175. Dana White later stated the fight had to be moved back when Silva injured his hand and back during a brawl with Sonnen that took place during filming of the show. Silva was ultimately pulled from the fight entirely after he failed to submit an application to fight in the state of Nevada, as well as his refusal to undergo a random drug test and was replaced by Vitor Belfort. On 10 June 2014, it was later reported that Chael Sonnen failed a drug test and would not be allowed to fight on UFC 175 card, as a result of the failed drug test, Sonnen announced his retirement from the sport the following day. As a result of his refusal to submit to the drug tests, Silva was given a lifetime ban and a $70,000 fine by the Nevada State Athletic Commission at their meeting on 23 September 2014. In May 2015, judge Kerry Earley overturned the lifetime ban that was imposed on Wanderlei Silva by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In January 2016, following an apology to the UFC about their "fight fixed" [a. k. a. fight fixing] and retracting his statement, he was released from his UFC contract. This allowed him to do whatever he wanted with his career.

Subsequent to his ban, Silva competed in a tag team grappling match with Kiyoshi Tamura against former opponent Kazushi Sakuraba and Hideo Tokoro at an event on 17 April 2016 for startup regional promotion Rizin Fighting Federation. The official result of the match was deemed a draw. In July 2016, it was announced that Silva would return to mixed martial arts competition in Japan as part of Rizin's 16 man openweight tournament beginning 25 September 2016 in Tokyo. Silva was scheduled to face Mirko Cro Cop in a trilogy bout on 29 December in the Rizin Open Weight quarter finals.

In early March 2016, Bellator MMA announced that Silva had signed a multi fight contract with the organization. The previous lifetime ban handed down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission was reduced to a three year suspension retroactive to 24 May 2014. He was eligible for reinstatement beginning 25 May 2017. The ban would not prevent Silva from competing at Indian Casinos or in Japan. After four years away from the sport, Silva made his delayed Bellator debut against Chael Sonnen in the main event at Bellator NYC on 24 June 2017. Silva lost a unanimous decision. On 25 June 2018, Bellator MMA announced that Silva would face Rampage Jackson in a fourth match on 29 September 2018 at Bellator 206. He lost the fight via technical knockout in round two. On 29 September 2019, news surfaced that Silva's contract with Bellator had expired. On September 1, 2022 Silva officially announced his retirement from MMA, expressing interest in boxing, calling out Dan Henderson.

Silva was famous for his brawling, relentless style of Muay Thai, which was described as being "feral" and carrying "a terrifying ferocity". His main strength was his offensive striking and use of hooks, soccer kicks and stomps. Though his grappling expertise was initially considered inferior to his striking skills due to his preference for ground and pound, he had a refined Brazilian jiu jitsu transitional game. On 26 August 2012 Silva's father, Holando Pinheiro da Silva, died in a car accident in Brazil. In April 2016, Silva became an American citizen. After years of living in the United States, Silva moved back to his hometown, Curitiba in Brazil. Wanderlei Silva ran for federal deputy representing Paraná for the PSD in the 2018 elections, in which he obtained 13,755 votes, not being elected. He attempted to run for a second time in the 2022 elections for Progressistas. On 8 October 2020, Sem Coleira, a Portuguese biography book about Silva was published.

Wand Fight Team is a mixed martial arts training organization headed by Wanderlei Silva. It was founded in 2009 in Las Vegas, with a former franchise in Pensacola, Florida. The Las Vegas location features several famous MMA Instructors, including, Leandro Lorenco (BJJ), Michael Costa (Muay Thai & MMA), Pete Martin (Kids Wrestling & Fitness) and Erik Perez (Fitness).

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