Thiago Silva
Brazilian light heavyweight Thiago Silva (14-3, 1NC) has reportedly left American Top Team for the Florida based Blackzilian gym according to Tatame.com.
Silva had been a member of the renowned Chute Boxe Academy before joining ATT and now joins such fighters as Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem, Jorge Santiago, Melvin Guillard, Tyrone Spong and a host of others who have joined the Blackzilian team.
Tatame is also reporting a rumor that Silva’s next bout may be against undefeated Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov (12-0), who debuted last August in Brazil with a first round TKO finish of Luiz Cane at UFC 134. The website is also saying that a match between Silva and Nedkov could take place at UFC 153, which is scheduled for October 13, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Blackzilians recently saw head coach Mike Van Arsdale leave the team to move back to Arizona in order to be closer to his family. Stepping in as his replacement will be grappling legend Mario Sperry, who joined the team as a coach earlier this year.
Silva is 0-2-1 in his last three matches and is coming off a decision loss to Alexander Gustafsson last April in Sweden. He had been scheduled to face Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua earlier this month at UFC 149 but was forced out with an injury. Before the match with Gustafsson, Silva had sat out a year for a suspension after falsifying his urine following a bout with Brandon Vera at UFC 125.