Tag: Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei Silva’s long MMA career has left him with several concussion-like symptoms according to “The Axe Murderer.”

Silva has caused more damage than he has endured over a combat sports career that has spanned nearly three decades. The stories from the old Chute Boxe Academy are incredible. And let’s not forget Silva’s early days fighting Vale Tudo.

But now he’s realized the damage he’s taken began to take a toll on him.

“I was in a lecture about concussion and of the 10 symptoms the guy mentioned, I had eight,” Silva said in a recent interview with the Brazilian website PVT (h/t MMA Fighting). “The symptoms would be, for example, mood swings, getting angry very fast, forgetting some things, having difficulty sleeping.”

Silva has grown quite fond of the research. So much so that the former Pride Grand Prix champion will donate his brain to researching concussions when he dies.

“I thought a lot about it and even tried to contact people to make this donation,” Silva said. “I have the most interested in donating since I won’t be using it anyway [laughs]. This area is very important.”

A notoriously hard trainer in his earlier days with the aforementioned Chute Boxe team, Silva no longer believes in some of the hard sparring that dominated so much of his youth.

“I, for example, believed that the more you got punched, the more you could take it. And it’s the opposite: the more you get, the less you can take in a fight,” Silva said. “If I could leave a tip for the young guys, it would be don’t hit yourselves every day. If you have a young student, don’t let him take too many punches to the head. There’s the right moment to do a hard training, but it can’t be every day. A good coach takes care of your student.”

Despite all the concussion talk, Silva hasn’t retired just yet. As a matter of fact, the 42-year-old is hoping that Vitor Belfort signs with Bellator so that he can even a score with “The Phenom” from a loss more than 20 years ago.

“I can fight him twice if he wants, no problem at all,” Silva said. “I’m fine, I’m healthy, I’m training, and at this point of (our) careers would be great for everyone. … I can’t end my career without this fight.”

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