The former UFC heavyweight was KO’d during a fight in Moscow.
The career of Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva continues to serve as a sober example of how mixed martial artists put their bodies on the line without the promise of payment or benefits that can ensure them a quality of life (and health) beyond their prime.
Silva fought for the UFC between 2011 and 2017, where he faced elite heavyweights, scored and suffered epic KOs and engaged in memorable all-out brawls. Silva was cut from the UFC after suffering seven T/KOs in his eleven Octagon appearances.
Since then he has continued to fight and suffer brutal KO losses. The most recent of these happened in Moscow on Friday at Hardcore Boxing 2.
See below the video of Bigfoot suffering a standing KO at the hands of Vyacheslav Datsik.
Vyacheslav Datsik finishes Big Foot in the 2nd round. Silva looked out on his feet pic.twitter.com/yAYSQwxJiK
— Matysek (@Matysek88) July 8, 2022
Late in the second round Silva was hit by a flurry of punches that forced him into the corner. In the corner he took more punches and appeared to lose understanding of where he was. The referee mercifully called an end to the contest before Silva could by further struck or knocked to the ground.
The loss to Datsik, a Neo-Nazi who was once imprisoned for raiding brothels, is Silva’s tenth defeat in a row and sixth loss via T/KO.
Silva’s last three appearances in the UFC were stoppage losses to Mark Hunt, Stefan Struve and Roy Nelson. Soon after his UFC release he fought Ivan Shtyrkov in an MMA bout for German Titov Boxing Promotions. He lost by unanimous decision.
In 2017 Silva was TKO’d by Vitaly Minakov at Fight Nights Global and Rico Verhoeven in Glory kickboxing. In 2019 he lost to Gabriel Gonzaga, by TKO, at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships.
Bigfoot Silva lost to Oleg Popov by 2nd round KO pic.twitter.com/MKGEMXHaHO
— jamie (@wrestlejamia) June 25, 2022
In 2021 he returned to MMA and lost to Quentin Domingos at Megdan Fighting in Serbia. Just three weeks before his loss to Datsik, Silva suffered a scary KO at MMA Series Russia.