Former UFC heavyweight Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva set for MMA return

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

We don’t need to see this. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is returning to MMA for the first time since 2017.
The former Strikeforce and UFC heavyweight contender has signed a contract wit…

UFC Fight Night: Silva v Struve

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

We don’t need to see this.

Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is returning to MMA for the first time since 2017.

The former Strikeforce and UFC heavyweight contender has signed a contract with Brazil-based promotion Tauro MMA and he’ll take on former LFA heavyweight Brett Martin on a card in (where else?) Florida.

An official press release confirmed the news on Monday, following an initial report from Combate.

There’s no other way to sugarcoat it, Silva (19-12-1 NC) is totally shot. He’s on a five-fight losing streak in MMA and he has repeatedly suffered knockout losses across multiple combat sports. “Bigfoot” was ludicrously matched up against Rico Verhoeven in GLORY kickboxing and was inevitably stopped in two rounds. Last year he went to Bare Knuckle FC and was knocked out by Gabriel Gonzaga. Stretching back to 2014, he has been knocked out or TKO’d in eight of his ten fights across MMA, kickboxing, and bare knuckle boxing. He admittedly took the Verhoeven bout because “he needs money.” One can only assume that’s the reason he remains active in fighting.

Martin (9-1-1 NC) has the most heavyweight of heavyweight honors, which is winning LFA’s four-man tournament via two disqualifications. He prevailed by illegal strikes against Renan Ferreira at LFA 70, then illegal knees in the final against Daniel James. He would’ve been the LFA heavyweight champion except he actually missed the heavyweight limit of 265 lbs, so he was ineligible to win the belt. Martin only has two knockouts out of nine wins, so maybe we could be spared Silva getting more head trauma. Maybe.

Oh yes, and Rousimar Palhares and William Macario are among the other names scheduled to appear on this show, which is set for October 30th. Fun times.