Filed under: UFC
It’s easy to forget that Wanderlei Silva is only 34 years old. After the wars he’s been in, competing in over 40 pro fights over the course of a 14-year career, he seems to have the body (and the scar tissue) of a much older man. But as this oddly touching video documenting his recent knee surgery shows, he also has the wisdom of someone far beyond his mid-thirties.
The occasion of the surgery seems to bring out the reflective side of “The Axe Murderer.” He thinks back to his childhood spent working in his parents’ bar and his days as a young, poor fighter before making it big.
As Silva points out, “Who sees Wanderlei Silva today, with all the marketing, with a good gym and getting paid well to fight, they don’t know the difficulties I went through. I went through a lot of hardships in my life.”