Background and career
Wanderlei César da Silva ( VAN-dər-lay, Brazilian Portuguese: [vɐ̃deʁˈlej ˈsɛzɐʁ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ], Japanese: [bandaɾeː ɕi.ɯba]; born 3 July 1976) is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist who competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He holds the record for the most wins, knockouts, title defenses and longest winning streak in PRIDE history. He is the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion and the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He most recently competed for Bellator MMA in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. In February 2024, Silva was announced as the next inductee in the "pioneer wing" of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Silva's aggressive style is rooted in street brawling, refined with elements of Muay Thai and kickboxing, which he began learning at the age of 13 in Chute Boxe Academy in his hometown Curitiba. In his late teens, he joined the Brazilian army and was quickly recognized for his fighting talents. He was asked to join Vale Tudo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu school. Silva enlisted after winning several fight tournaments within his age group in Brazil. There was a time when he developed a scar tissue around his eyes from fighting in bare-knuckle vale tudo. Silva's first professional match was on 1 November 1996, in the bare-knuckle organization Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighting (BVF). In this fight, he was able to knock out Dilson Filho via right elbow at BVF 6. He fought in another match in BVF, BVF 10 on 1 July 1997, against Marcelo Barbosa, who submitted due to a shoulder injury. Silva fought six matches in four different International Vale Tudo Championship events, IVC 2, IVC 6, IVC 9 and IVC 10, from 1997 to 1999. He won five of these matches by KO/TKO, with his one loss being the result of a cut stoppage against Artur Mariano in the IVC 2 show on 15 September 1997. Though Silva dominated Mariano with punches and knee strikes, the cut above Silva's left eyelid opened back up several times, partially because Silva continued to use the cut side of his head to inflict many headbutts on Mariano over the course of the match. The doctor observed the cut several times before the fight was officially ended. Silva culminated his IVC career by winning the promotion's Cruiserweight belt with a submission win over Eugene Jackson in the IVC 10 show on 27 April 1999. It was after this fight that Silva earned the nickname "The Axe Murderer". Silva participated in one Meca World Vale Tudo event, Meca 2 on 12 August 2000, where he knocked out Todd Medina with Muay Thai knees.
Silva entered the UFC on 16 October 1998, at UFC Brazil: Ultimate Brazil, in a match against Vitor Belfort. The match was arguably the worst defeat of his career, lasting only 44 seconds and left him knocked down against the cage by Belfort's punches then being stopped by the referee. Silva won his next UFC match on 7 May 1999, at UFC 20, in which he knocked out Tony Petarra with knees. On 14 April 2000, Silva fought for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, but lost via unanimous decision to Tito Ortiz at UFC 25.
Silva debuted in PRIDE at the Pride 7 event on 12 September 1999, against Carl Ognibene (better known as Carl "Malenko"). Silva used his strength to control Malenko from the ground, demonstrating his grappling expertise, coming very close to securing a guillotine choke and a rear-naked choke during round one, in addition to landing many powerful knees from the clinch. Silva continued to dominate Malenko en route to a decision victory. This dominance would set the tone for Silva's career in the organization. From 1999 to 2004, Silva won eighteen-straight fights in PRIDE, excluding a draw against Mirko Cro Cop (under slightly modified rules in which if the match would go to the time limit, the bout would be declared a draw) and a no contest against Gilbert Yvel (Silva accidentally kicked Yvel in the groin), giving him a twenty-fight unbeaten streak. Silva's reputation as a formidable MMA fighter grew as he developed a successful 5-year win record in the middle weight division (205 lb) of Pride. Silva fought Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba for the first time at Pride 13 - Collision Course on 25 March 2001. Silva won via TKO (knees and soccer kick) at 1:38 into the first round. At Pride 17: Championship Chaos on 3 November 2001, Silva won the inaugural Pride middleweight (205 lb) championship when he defeated Sakuraba for the second time. Sakuraba suffered a broken clavicle and was forced to withdraw after the first round, giving Silva a TKO win via doctor's stoppage. The two fought for a third time on 10 August 2003 at Pride Total Elimination 2003, part of the PRIDE Middleweight Tournament. Silva knocked out Sakuraba with a two punch combination at 5:01 into the first round.
Silva faced Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at Pride Final Conflict 2003 on 9 November 2003. Silva won by TKO after delivering seventeen consecutive knees to Jackson. Silva became Pride's 2003 tournament champion with the win. The two fought again on 31 October 2004 at Pride 28: High Octane. Jackson knocked Silva down near the end of the first round and mounted him as the bell rang. In round two Silva caught Jackson with a counter right hand and followed up with knees from the thai clinch knocking Jackson out, successfully defending the Pride middleweight championship with the win. In Japan, Silva additionally gained his reputation as a fighter who has never been defeated by any Japanese opponent, resulting in a trend of various Japanese fighters being arranged by Pride to face him. Silva's undefeated 5-year streak (18 wins, 13 knockouts) in PRIDE was broken by Samoan Heavyweight Mark Hunt, a K-1 champion on 31 December 2004 at the Pride Shockwave 2004 event. Hunt won the non-title match by split decision. The decision was controversial because some who felt that Hunt's weight of 280 lb (125 kg), over 80 lb more than Silva, as well as Silva's performance in rounds two and three, had not been sufficiently considered by the judges in their decision; Randy Couture and Bas Rutten, both being commentators at the event, expressed disagreement with the judges decision. Silva also took this fight on two days notice. Nonetheless, Silva's 2004 campaign earned him Fighter of the Year honors from both Sherdog and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Silva's former status as PRIDE Middleweight Champion first came under debate and criticism with his loss to Ricardo Arona (who subsequently lost the tournament to Silva's teammate, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua) on 28 August 2005 at Pride Final Conflict 2005. The loss, by unanimous decision in the tournament's semi-finals, was Silva's first defeat in a middleweight match in Pride; however, since it was not a title fight and held under special rules due to the grand prix format (2 rounds instead of 3), Silva was still recognized as the middleweight champion. A rematch between Arona and Silva was scheduled to take place at the Pride Shockwave 2005 event on 31 December 2005. Mere minutes before the fight, Silva's teammate Cristiano Marcello had choked Charles Bennett unconscious in the locker room after a confrontation. Waking up, Bennett struck Silva with an elbow strike knocking him down unconscious. Despite the incident, Silva went on to win the fight by split decision. On 18 May 2006, Pride's parent company, Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE), announced that Silva would replace Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in the Open Weight Grand Prix. Emelianenko's doctors stated that his hand, which had recently undergone surgery, would not be in good enough shape to fight because the metal implant would still be present. Because Silva was also a champion, he received a first round bye and fought in the second round at Pride Critical Countdown Absolute, which took place on 1 July 2006. Silva moved to the semi-finals of the Open Weight Grand Prix after defeating Kazuyuki Fujita by TKO (punches and soccer kicks) at 9:21 of round one. On 8 July 2006, at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals, UFC president Dana White announced Silva would face Chuck Liddell in a UFC event held in November, provided Liddell beat Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 62. Liddell did end up winning that fight. However, talks dwindled and the fight as advertised did not happen. On 10 September 2006, at Pride Final Conflict Absolute, Wanderlei Silva was knocked out by Mirko Cro Cop in their rematch during the Heavyweight Grand Prix semi-finals. After a brief stoppage to tend to a swollen eye on Silva, "Cro Cop" struck Silva in the head with a left kick, knocking him out. On 21 October 2006 at Pride 32: The Real Deal, Wanderlei issued his challenge to Chuck Liddell to a fight inside a Pride ring in February, when the promotion returned to Las Vegas, however Dana White stated that the fight would not be happening, citing Silva's recent KO loss to Mirko Cro Cop which would have not allowed the NSAC to clear him medically for the fight that soon after being knocked out.
Silva put his Pride middleweight title on the line against Dan Henderson, Pride's welterweight (183 lb) champion at Pride 33: The Second Coming, held on 24 February 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a night of upsets, Henderson knocked out Silva in the third round with a left hook to become the new middleweight champion. Silva was denied the ability to participate in Pride 34 due to medical suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) which made this his last Pride appearance. Silva almost never lost under strict Pride rules at 205 pounds - he won over 83% of his matches.
