Antonio Silva’s UFC career has finally come to an end.
One month after his knockout loss to Roy Nelson, MMAjunkie confirmed on Friday that "Bigfoot" and the UFC mutually agreed not to renew his contract, which had ended after that fight. It ends a brutal run for the 37-year-old heavyweight veteran, who’d been (T)KO’d in 6 of his last 8 bouts, with 5 of them coming in the opening round.
The best run of Silva’s career was from 2010-2013, which included a three-fight winning streak in Strikeforce, culminating in a doctor’s stoppage TKO of Fedor Emelianenko. Bigfoot’s run through the Strikeforce Grand Prix ended with a vicious KO loss to Daniel Cormier, and his UFC debut ended in a bloody TKO loss to Cain Velasquez. Silva got back on the winning track by handing Travis Browne the first loss of his career in September 2012, then staging a tremendous rally to KO the heavily favored Alistair Overeem in February 2013. The pair of victories earned Silva a title shot, which ended with an even quicker TKO loss to Velasquez.
At the end of 2013, Bigfoot and Mark Hunt engaged in an all-time classic five-round thriller, with the fight ending in a draw. Unfortunately for Silva, he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, and his draw became a no-contest. TRT was soon banned, and he would later suffer KO losses to Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir. At UFC 190, Bigfoot stopped Soa Palelei, which will stand as his last win inside the Octagon. Following that victory, Silva was finished by Hunt, then Stefan Struve, and "Big Country."
Despite his series of knockout losses, don’t expect Bigfoot to hang up the gloves. According to his manager, Alex Davis, he thinks he will "probably go to Rizin (FF) or Russia."