Antonio Silva with a beard. Big man Antonio Silva (biography, photo, video)

17.05.2024

Physical data:

Height - 193 cm;

Weight - 120 kg;

Arm span - 208 cm.

Battle statistics: 23 fights – 17 wins – 6 losses.

Fighting style: judo, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, karate.

Debut in mixed martial arts: March 2005.

Trophies and achievements:

· Winner of Strikeforce 2011;

· EliteXC Champion.

Fighting technique. Visually, fighter Antonio Silva looks a little sloppy and awkward in the octagon. But, in reality, “Bigfoot” is one of the most experienced and versatile MMA fighters of our time. Silva has a large arm span that allows him to operate from distance, solid mass and wrestling skills that help him on the ground. In recent fights, Antonio Silva encountered a serious problem - the fighter made many mistakes in defense, which resulted in serious injuries and injuries that Antonio Silva received. But, in most fights, the most terrible elbow strikes and powerful lunges allow you to gain the upper hand and have an undeniable advantage over your opponents.

Career development. Suffering from a rare disease called acromegaly, Antonio Silva became a highly visible fighter in the MMA world simply because of his appearance. The Brazilian fighter's enlarged frontal lobe and huge bones inspire fear in his opponents. In addition, during his young years, Antonio became quite a versatile fighter, which made him an ideal machine for the world of mixed martial arts.

Antonio Silva's career started in March 2005, where he met with Georgian MMA fighter Tengiz Tedoradze. Having won seven victories in seven fights, Antonio Silva has shown himself to be quite a promising fighter for the MMA world. In 2006, the Brazilian started in the BodogFight tournament, where he lost for the first time in his career, and in 2007 - in EliteXC, where he became the champion.

In October 2009, Silva made his debut in the prestigious Strikeforce tournament, meeting with his first famous opponent, Fabricio Werdum. The compatriot was superior to Silva in the technical arsenal, which affected the final decision of the judges. But this course of events did not unsettle Silva and in 2011, he became a real triumph, defeating Mike Kyle and, in turn, what became a real sensation in the MMA world.

After rising to the top of Strikeforce, Silva was quickly stripped of his title in a knockout loss to Daniel Cormier and signed with the UFC, which welcomed the Brazilian mixed martial arts titan.

Thus, Antonio found himself in the league of the strongest, where, so far, he is mostly disappointing. The crushing defeats to Velasquez, which were very painful for Silva, were a sign that Antonio was not ready to fight against the strongest heavyweights. It seemed that the victory over Travis Brown restored confidence in his abilities, but a technical knockout from the Belarusian Orlovsky immediately followed, and Antonio fell out of the league of the strongest. In 2015, everyone is waiting for the return of Bigfoot, and Antonio Silva declares that he is seriously working on his mistakes.

Antonio Silva (born September 14, 1979) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competed in the UFC heavyweight division. He is a former EliteXC Heavyweight Champion, a former Cage Rage Champion and a former Cage Warriors Champion. He also performed in such promotions as K-1 Hero's, BodogFIGHT, Strikeforce and World Victory Road.

Antonio Silva, better known in MMA as “Bigfoot,” was born on September 14, 1979 in the Brazilian city of Campina Grande, where he has lived throughout his life. The fighter has excellent data for his weight category, his height is 193 centimeters, but this is due to the fact that Antonio has a serious disease called acromegaly. This disease entails dysfunction of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland, which in turn can be accompanied by a pathological enlargement of the skull, hands, feet and even the facial part. But the disease did not prevent Antonio from becoming a professional MMA fighter.

He began his career in the Wolfslair MMA Academy team, where he competed from 2005 to 2006, after which in 2006 he moved to the American Top Team, of which he is a member to this day.

Silva began his professional career in England, competing against Georgian fighter Tengiz Tedoradze, and after 2 fights became the Cage Rage heavyweight champion.

Very soon, Silva brought his record to an impressive seven victories in a row, all of which he won ahead of schedule. Silva suffered his first defeat in December 2006 to Eric Pele at the BodogFight: USA vs. Russia.

This was followed by 6 wins in a row and a fight with Fabricio Werdum under the auspices of Strikeforce in November 2009. “Bigfoot” lost this fight by unanimous decision.

This was followed by 2 victories in a row - a decision over Andrei Arlovski, and a TKO victory over Mike Kyle, which provided “Bigfoot” with access to the fight with Fedor Emelianenko.

This fight took place in February 2011, and the Brazilian heavyweight defeated Fedor by technical knockout.

In the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, “Bigfoot” lost to Daniel Cormier by knockout, and after that he moved to the UFC. Silva lost his UFC debut by TKO to Cain Velasquez at UFC 146 in May 2012.

After this defeat, “Bigfoot” rehabilitated himself by defeating such fighters as Alistair Overeem and Travis Brown ahead of schedule, and again reached the title.

However, the rematch with Velasquez was again unsuccessful, as the fighter again lost by technical knockout.

Silva's next fight was against Mark Hunt in December 2013 in Australia. The heavyweights staged a real war in the cage, and the fight was awarded a bonus as “Fight of the Night.” The result of the fight was initially a draw, but was later changed to a no contest because Silva failed a post-fight test. “Bigfoot” was found to have inflated levels of testosterone, and the fighter was suspended from competition for 9 months.

After this, a black streak came for the fighter. He won only one fight in his next seven appearances. Silva defeated Soa Palelei by TKO, and lost to such fighters as Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson.

Silva’s last fight to date was in Russia against Ivan Shtyrkov in November 2016, and lost by decision.

Brazilian mixed martial artist Antonio (Antonio) Carlos Silva was born on September 14, 1979 in Campina Grande, Paraiba state, Brazil.

Antonio Silva is a black belt holder in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Karate.

Silva's nickname in the ring is Bigfoot, which can be translated from English as Bigfoot.

Part of the Bigfoot nickname stems from Silva's condition, acromegaly. This is a disease of dysfunction of the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland (adenohypophysis), which is accompanied by enlargement (expansion and thickening) of the hands, feet, skull, especially its facial part, etc.

But the main reason is, of course, Silva’s “parameters”. He is truly a huge fighter with a height of 193 cm and a weight of 120 kg. The peculiarity of his style lies in the skillful combination of Brazilian jiu-jitsu techniques and developed wrestling skills. Despite the fact that he is not the most athletic fighter, and is inferior in speed to many of his rivals, he manages to win victories thanks to his massiveness.

Silva has victories over such famous fighters as Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem and Ricco Rodriguez.

Building a career in mixed martial arts, Antonio Silva competed in such organizations as Hero's, BodogFight and Elite Xtreme Combat (where he was the heavyweight champion), and now fights for Strikeforce and Sengoku.

He has 17 wins and 4 losses in his mixed martial arts career, a defeat at the hands of Eric Pele, where many felt the fight was stopped too early, to Fabrizio Werdum with a score of 29-28 in favor of Werdum, and a knockout loss to Daniel Cormier.

Antonio Silva began his fighting career in 2005 from the Wolfslair MMA Academy club located in England. In 2006, he left the team after his fight with Tadas Rinkevičius, and returned to Brazil. The Wolfslair gym made a monetary claim against BigFoot of £20,000. Silva himself claims they owed him a total of £6,000 for two fights in which he was promised £3,000 for each fight.

Spending most of his time training at the Brazilian Top Team club, Antonio Silva prefers to officially compete for the American Top Team, located in Florida. Before his fight with Fedor Emelianenko at the Strikeforce World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament, Silva trained at the Imperial Athletics gym.

On February 10, 2007, Antonio Silva made his EliteXC debut against UFC veteran Wesley Correira. Silva won the fight via submission in the first round. He built on his success by defeating EliteXC Renegade's Jonathan Wiezorek via counter choke in the first round. His next win was against former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez.

On July 26, 2008, Silva won the EliteXC heavyweight championship by knocking out UFC veteran Justin Eilers in the second round. After the fight, medical tests were positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone. Silva was suspended for 1 year and fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission.

According to Silva's manager, the positive test results for boldenone were caused by the testosterone-boosting drug Novadex, which Antonio Silva uses to combat low testosterone levels caused by his disease acromegaly.

"He has to take this drug," Alex Davis said. "Antonio spends $6,000 to $8,000 a month on medication alone. He must be able to continue competing in MMA to make a living. If it's a choice between Antonio's health and satisfying the Athletic Commission, we have to choose his health."

Shortly after positive steroid tests in California, Silva signed a contract to fight at Sengoku 7. He was not cleared to fight in Japan by the California State Athletic Commission, however, he ignored their ban, continuing to claim that he did not use steroids. Despite the pressure, on January 4, 2009, Silva entered the ring against Yoshihiro "KISS" Nakao, at Sengoku 7 in Japan. Silva won the fight by technical knockout when his opponent suffered a knee injury in the first round.

On November 7, 2009, Antonio Silva suffered the second defeat of his career, to compatriot Fabrizio Werdum at the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers tournament.

Silva also defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski on May 15, 2010, at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery, winning the fight by decision.

But Antonio Silva won his main and most significant victory over MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko in the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix 2011, when the doctor stopped the fight, not allowing Fedor to continue due to a serious hematoma on his face.