Silva is already calling for another mixed martial arts fight one week after retiring for the sport.
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s latest retirement seems to have lasted just over a week.
The former UFC heavyweight contender added yet another L to his lengthy streak of defeats on June 10th, dropping a decision loss to Salim El Ouassaidi at Kingdom Fighting 1. It was his 11th loss in a row across MMA, boxing, bare-knuckle, and kickboxing. “Bigfoot” hasn’t won a bout since a second round KO victory over Soa Palelei in 2015.
At least the Kingdom Fighting bout didn’t end in a nasty knockout like the previous five fights Silva had been in. That didn’t stop the Brazilian from announcing his retirement.
“It was a great fight,” Silva said following the event on Instagram Live. “We tried the knockout all the time, he and I, and in the end I retired. I put down my gloves in the center of the octagon. To me, everything has a beginning and an end, and I’m very happy and satisfied. We never want to stop, no professional athlete wants to stop, even in volleyball or football, but everything has a time, and I did this for 19 years.”
“Bigfoot” has retired before, but this time he sounded serious. Well, maybe he was at the time. But a week later he’s already got the itch to fight again.
“Let’s do a rematch Kingdom Fighting,” he wrote in a new Instagram post. “I’m ready and I’m coming back from retirement to fight again because I know I didn’t lose … #letsgo.”
Comments in his post were not exactly supportive of the idea.
“No Bigfoot. No more fighting,” one person wrote.
“GUY ARE YOU ON F—ING drugs ?!??” another exclaimed. “You lost 12 in a row !!! Enough already !! Nobody wants to see you fight anymore and take anymore shots to that big ass head of yours !!!”
“Time to hang ‘em up big fella,” a kinder, gentler commenter wrote. “We love you and thanks for all the fights you gave us but you have got to stop. Be a trainer you are very knowledged I hate seeing you fight knowing what you were in you’re prime sorry.”
“Bigfoot” Silva’s earlier career between 2005 and 2014 was extremely successful. He went 18-5 with successful runs in K-1, EliteXC, Sengoku, Strikeforce, and the UFC. Notable wins include Tom Erikson, Ricco Rodriguez, Andrei Arlovski, Fedor Emelianenko, and Alistair Overeem. At his peak he was competing against the very best like Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, and Fabricio Werdum.
Things took a bad turn in late 2014 after a commission forced him to have surgery to remove a tumor on his pituitary gland in order to continue competing. “Bigfoot” was never the same fighter after that. His 1-12 record after the procedure certainly attest to it.
We can only hope that cooler heads prevail and “Bigfoot” remains retired. At 43 years of age, he doesn’t need to be fed to up and coming fighters on the regional circuit any more.