After signing a contract with Bellator MMA, Wanderlei Silva has another fighting home, agreeing to a deal with RIZIN FF.
The promotion announced Monday that they have signed Silva to a multi-year promotional contract. He is set to compete in a “grappling tag match” on April 17 at RIZIN FF 2.
Silva, a former PRIDE middleweight and 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix champion, will team up with a yet-to-be-announced fighter against Kazushi Sakuraba and Hideo Tokoro.
Moving forward, Silva will move into MMA fights for the promotion. In regards to his fighting status in North America, “The Axe Murderer” remains suspended until next year.
Below is the complete press release:
RIZIN FF, the combat sports promotion led by former PRIDE FC head Nobuyuki Sakakibara, announced during a press conference, the signing of all-time Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) great Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva (35-12-1, 1 NC) to a multi-year promotional contract, as well as the first two bouts, one of which will feature Silva, for its second live event that will take place at the 10,000 capacity Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan on Sunday, April 17.
Priced from 100,000 yen, tickets for “Top Presents RIZIN Fighting Federation I” are on sale and can be purchased online at TicketBis.com.
Silva, the former PRIDE middleweight champion and 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix middleweight champion, will team up with a fighter to be determined, in a special grappling “tag match,” the rules for which will be announced soon, and battle a duo consisting of another legend, Kazushi Sakuraba, (26-17-1, 2 NC) and Hideo Tokoro (33-28-2).
Following the April contest, Silva, who held several records under the PRIDE banner, including longest win streak and most KO’s, will compete under MMA rules in future RIZIN FF events.
In a 180 pound MMA rules contest, devastating power puncher Hisaki Kato (5-2) will take on fellow prolific finisher Yuta “Andre” Watanabe (19-6-4).
A former HEAT middleweight title holder, the 33-year-old Kato made an explosive debut before a live U.S. television audience on Spike when he scored what was later named “Knockout of the Month” – a crushing, second round (:34) KO (punch) on American star Joe “Stitch ‘Em Up” Schilling at Bellator 139 on June 26, 2015.
To date, all of Kato’s professional victories have come by way of (T)KO.
Watanabe is a 31-year-old grappling ace who boasts a splendid 84 percent finish rate, with 11 of his 19 career wins to date having come by way of submission and another 6 victories having come by way of (T)KO.
The number 10 ranked welterweight in Japan, Watanabe will make his first appearance of 2016 and look to rebound from a first round (2:00) submission (rear-naked choke) defeat at the hands of Keita Nakamura on July 20, 2015, a loss that halted a seven-fight win streak for Watanabe.
In two different women’s bouts, Rena Kubota (1-0 MMA, 31-5-1 shoot boxing) will square off an opponent to be named under shoot boxing rules, while decorated wrestler Kanako Murata (0-0) will make her highly-anticipated MMA debut against an opponent to be announced soon.
The 24-year-old Kubota is a three-time shoot boxing tournament champion who made her much-anticipated MMA debut in stunning fashion at the RIZIN FF New Year’s Eve extravaganza, where she notched a second round (3:31) submission victory over Jleana Valentino with a flying armbar.
The 22-year-old Murata’s impressive resume includes three junior Olympic medals. Her most impressive feat, however, came in 2011 when Murata nearly defeated four-time Olympic gold medalist Saori Yoshida during the All-Japan championships.
Additional bouts for “Top Presents RIZIN Fighting Federation I” will be announced soon.
After signing a contract with Bellator MMA, Wanderlei Silva has another fighting home, agreeing to a deal with RIZIN FF.
The promotion announced Monday that they have signed Silva to a multi-year promotional contract. He is set to compete in a “grappling tag match” on April 17 at RIZIN FF 2.
Silva, a former PRIDE middleweight and 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix champion, will team up with a yet-to-be-announced fighter against Kazushi Sakuraba and Hideo Tokoro.
Moving forward, Silva will move into MMA fights for the promotion. In regards to his fighting status in North America, “The Axe Murderer” remains suspended until next year.
Below is the complete press release:
RIZIN FF, the combat sports promotion led by former PRIDE FC head Nobuyuki Sakakibara, announced during a press conference, the signing of all-time Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) great Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva (35-12-1, 1 NC) to a multi-year promotional contract, as well as the first two bouts, one of which will feature Silva, for its second live event that will take place at the 10,000 capacity Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan on Sunday, April 17.
Priced from 100,000 yen, tickets for “Top Presents RIZIN Fighting Federation I” are on sale and can be purchased online at TicketBis.com.
Silva, the former PRIDE middleweight champion and 2003 PRIDE Grand Prix middleweight champion, will team up with a fighter to be determined, in a special grappling “tag match,” the rules for which will be announced soon, and battle a duo consisting of another legend, Kazushi Sakuraba, (26-17-1, 2 NC) and Hideo Tokoro (33-28-2).
Following the April contest, Silva, who held several records under the PRIDE banner, including longest win streak and most KO’s, will compete under MMA rules in future RIZIN FF events.
In a 180 pound MMA rules contest, devastating power puncher Hisaki Kato (5-2) will take on fellow prolific finisher Yuta “Andre” Watanabe (19-6-4).
A former HEAT middleweight title holder, the 33-year-old Kato made an explosive debut before a live U.S. television audience on Spike when he scored what was later named “Knockout of the Month” – a crushing, second round (:34) KO (punch) on American star Joe “Stitch ‘Em Up” Schilling at Bellator 139 on June 26, 2015.
To date, all of Kato’s professional victories have come by way of (T)KO.
Watanabe is a 31-year-old grappling ace who boasts a splendid 84 percent finish rate, with 11 of his 19 career wins to date having come by way of submission and another 6 victories having come by way of (T)KO.
The number 10 ranked welterweight in Japan, Watanabe will make his first appearance of 2016 and look to rebound from a first round (2:00) submission (rear-naked choke) defeat at the hands of Keita Nakamura on July 20, 2015, a loss that halted a seven-fight win streak for Watanabe.
In two different women’s bouts, Rena Kubota (1-0 MMA, 31-5-1 shoot boxing) will square off an opponent to be named under shoot boxing rules, while decorated wrestler Kanako Murata (0-0) will make her highly-anticipated MMA debut against an opponent to be announced soon.
The 24-year-old Kubota is a three-time shoot boxing tournament champion who made her much-anticipated MMA debut in stunning fashion at the RIZIN FF New Year’s Eve extravaganza, where she notched a second round (3:31) submission victory over Jleana Valentino with a flying armbar.
The 22-year-old Murata’s impressive resume includes three junior Olympic medals. Her most impressive feat, however, came in 2011 when Murata nearly defeated four-time Olympic gold medalist Saori Yoshida during the All-Japan championships.
Additional bouts for “Top Presents RIZIN Fighting Federation I” will be announced soon.
(You see, Dana? All you had to do was occassionally buy the man a cake and EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE BETWEEN YOU TO.)
The past few years have been a roller coaster of emotions for Wanderlei Silva, to put it simply. In his last octagon appearance, the former PRIDE middleweight champion engaged in an all out barnburner with Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8, dusting the Marine with a hellacious combination in the third round of their “Fight of the Year” contender. Then…he got booked opposite Chael Sonnen as a coach on the third season of TUF Brazil and everythingwenttosh*t.
Things began to pick up for Silva back in May, more or less, when a Nevada District Judge reversed the lifetime ban the NSAC had slapped him with for skipping out on his UFC 175 drug test. Last month, Wanderlei (or at least, his lawyer) was given a second hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, resulting in the ban being reduced to three years retroactive to the time of his infraction.
Now a (relatively) free man who also happened to be released from his UFC contract contract in January, there was really only one career option left for “The Axe Murderer” to make up for lost time: Immediately un-retiring and signing with Bellator.
(You see, Dana? All you had to do was occassionally buy the man a cake and EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE BETWEEN YOU TO.)
The past few years have been a roller coaster of emotions for Wanderlei Silva, to put it simply. In his last octagon appearance, the former PRIDE middleweight champion engaged in an all out barnburner with Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8, dusting the Marine with a hellacious combination in the third round of their ”Fight of the Year” contender. Then…he got booked opposite Chael Sonnen as a coach on the third season of TUF Brazil and everythingwenttosh*t.
Things began to pick up for Silva back in May, more or less, when a Nevada District Judge reversed the lifetime ban the NSAC had slapped him with for skipping out on his UFC 175 drug test. Last month, Wanderlei (or at least, his lawyer) was given a second hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, resulting in the ban being reduced to three years retroactive to the time of his infraction.
Now a (relatively) free man who also happened to be released from his UFC contract contract in January, there was really only one career option left for “The Axe Murderer” to make up for lost time: Immediately un-retiring and signing with Bellator. And according to a press release sent out by Bellator this morning (via MMAJunkie), that’s precisely what Silva did:
The 39-year-old Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC), the promotion today announced, has signed an exclusive multi-fight, multi-year deal. The signing appeared to be an inevitability after Bellator President Scott Coker said recently that the promotion was having serious talks with the former UFC standout and PRIDE champion about coming out of retirement.
It is not yet known what weight class Silva will be competing at, but if we were to hazard a guess based on this image, we’d have to say “DadBodweight” (or maybe Franklinweight). He’ll fit right in at Bellator, that’s for sure.
Now, an interesting caveat in Wanderlei’s ban, according to the ever-trustworthy folks at Wikipedia, is that it won’t prevent him from ”competing at Indian Casinos or in Japan,” so even though he isn’t technically allowed to compete until May 25th, 2017, we could very well see him step into the cage before that date. He is nearing 40, after all, and upstart Japanese promotion Rizin has expressed interest in potentially booking him against Fedor Emelianenko in the near future, which falls into definitive “would watch” category of fights for the vast majority of MMA fans.
In any case, “The Axe Murderer” is back. Someone tell Lenne Hardt to start warming up those legendary pipes.
Controversial Brazilian legend Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva has finally had his time in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Back in 2014, Silva reportedly had fled the scene of a commission ordered random drug test ahead of his scheduled clash with Chael Sonnen. The NSAC proceeded to take it to “The Axe Murderer”,
Controversial Brazilian legend Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva has finally had his time in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Back in 2014, Silva reportedly had fled the scene of a commission ordered random drug test ahead of his scheduled clash with Chael Sonnen.
The NSAC proceeded to take it to “The Axe Murderer”, handing the Brazilian a $75,000 fine and an insane life-time ban from fighting. The life suspension was overturned by a district court judge last May, and Silva has been waiting ever since for his hearing with the commission to take place.
That hearing occurred earlier today (February 17, 2016).
Although Silva’s attorney, Ross Goodman, had pleaded for a two-year suspension, “The Axe Murderer” was essentially handed a three-year suspension dating back to May 2014 which means he could be eligible to fight again as early as next year.
Due to the nature of the offenses, Silva will also be forced to pass a drug test upon his return.
MMAFighting’s Shaheen Al-Shatti broke the news via twitter:
Wanderlei Silva has been suspended for three years by the NAC. No fine. Suspension retroactive. Must pass a drug test upon return.
Silva was recently released from his UFC contract, and it’s very likely that we’ll never see him back inside of the Octagon. However, even at 39 years of age we may not have seen the last of the Brazilian slugger.
Bellator has expressed potential interest in Silva and there have even been rumors of a bout between “The Axe Murderer” and legendary heavyweight Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko possibly taking place in Rizin FF.
