A little more than a year ago, Antonio Silva underwent surgery to remove a tumor on his pituitary gland.
Silva spent nearly his entire life with the tumor. It caused acromegaly, a disease in which the pituitary produces much higher-than-normal levels of growth hormone. As a result, humans afflicted with acromegaly become, well, larger than your average person. André “The Giant” Roussimoff, perhaps one of the most famous international professional wrestlers of all time, spent a lifetime with the disease.
Though nowhere close to the 7’4″ he was billed at during his pro wrestling career, Roussimoff was legitimately 6’10” and roughly 450 pounds.
A giant of a man, indeed. So giant, in fact, that the disease–coupled with his now-legendary habit of eating and drinking prodigious amounts of food and alcohol—felled him at the age of 46, passing away in his sleep of congestive heart failure.
Silva never reached Andre proportions, of course. But he is still a hulking man, standing 6’4″ and cutting from 290 pounds to make the heavyweight limit of 265. And so after losing by knockout to Andrei Arlovski in September 2014, Silva had the tumor removed. He returned a few months later but lost again by knockout, this time to Frank Mir. But the important part, more important than the losses, was that Silva finally felt better. He was whole again.
“I’m feeling great after the surgery,” he told Bleacher Report this week. “Everything is better. Physically, I am better. Training is better. Everything is just better.”
Silva returned to the Octagon in August and finally got back on the winning track with a knockout win over Soa Palelei. This Saturday, he steps back in the cage to turn back the hands of time, in a way.
You see, nearly two years ago, on December 7, 2013, Silva and Mark Hunt put on one of the all-time classic fights in UFC history. Even upon repeated viewings, the bout resembles something more like a war than a mixed martial arts contest. It was bloody and brutal, the kind of fight that makes some fans scream while others cover their eyes. Silva and Hunt fought to a draw, which felt both like a loss and the only fair result. The fight was so memorable that UFC president Dana White commissioned the clothing company Roots of Fight to make a special one-off shirt, just for him, celebrating the fight. He even gave both men their win bonuses despite the fight being scored a draw.
Afterwards, the memory of the bout was sullied when it was revealed that Silva had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. Silva had to give back his win bonus and his $50,000 check for Fight of the Night, and he was suspended for nine months. He’d been under the care of the UFC, undergoing testosterone replacement therapy, but still his levels were outside the normal range.
Today, the TRT era is gone. Silva believes he was one of the few who actually had a clinical need for the treatment, and he has a point, what with the tumor on his pituitary gland and all. But the rules are the rules, and Silva has to comply with them the same way others must. The era of legalized testosterone usage is now viewed with contempt, but Silva believes that shouldn’t be the case.
“It depends on how you see TRT use. Some people have a clinical condition. They need it,” he said. “But since it’s a new rule and the fighters have it in their contracts, they have to follow the rules. So I will follow the rules just like everyone else.”
Silva sees the fight with Hunt—a featured bout on Saturday’s UFC 193 card from Australia—as, essentially, an extension of their first fight. He believes winning, at the end of the day, is the most important item on his agenda. But if he can go in there with Hunt and put on a thrilling fight again? That’s the dream, because Silva loves entertaining, loves putting on a show. And doing it in front of a stadium filled with Australian fans is a great way to do it.
“That’s what I want the most, is the same fight again. It will be like fighting the sixth round,” he said. “Winning is the most important thing to me. But the perfect world is to win while putting on a huge fight for the public.”
It’s hard for Silva to describe what it’s like to be in the middle of that kind of fight. He finds himself in those kinds of spirited bouts a lot these days; his breathtaking come-from-behind win over Alistair Overeem is a high point of his career. He’s got the same switch most fighters do, the one that is flipped when things get a little crazy. Time stands still and things get a little dark around the edges, and Silva picks up his giant hands and swings them with abandon.
He’s hoping for a repeat performance on Saturday. With his track record, there’s a good chance he’ll get what he wants.
“I enjoy that. I like that kind of fight a lot,” he said. “The fight with Mark was such a great fight. Both of us gave their best, and that’s the most important thing. When you’re standing in the Octagon, when you’re inside the cage, you have to give your best, the best that you can.
“I was born to fight. I cannot imagine doing anything else.”
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