Anderson Silva

Anderson da Silva (born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. Silva has a son with former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton, and has a daughter with ex-NFL star Joanne Whittaker. He was named one of the world’s most influential people in the sport by ESPN in 2010.

About Anderson Silva in brief

Summary Anderson SilvaAnderson da Silva (born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion and holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days. UFC president Dana White, UFC commentator Joe Rogan and numerous mixed martial arts pundits have named Silva as one the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Silva made his professional debut in 1997 and went on a nine-fight winning streak, winning six of those fights by either submission or TKO. He has also fought in the Cage Rage promotion, as well as other promotions around the world. Silva is the son of a poverty-stricken family, and spent the majority of his childhood in Curitiba with his aunt and uncle, who was an officer with the curitiba police force. Silva has a son with former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton, and has a daughter with ex-NFL star Joanne Whittaker, who is also a mixed martial Arts fighter. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children, and works as a motivational speaker and coach for Brazilian Top Team. He was named one of the world’s most influential people in the sport by ESPN in 2010. He also has a successful career as a professional boxer, winning the World Series of Fighting title in 2004. Silva also competed in the Rumble in Hawaii, where he lost to Yushin Okami in the first round of the 175lb tournament. Silva was eliminated from the tournament when he kicked the opponent in the groin while on the ground, making the attack an illegal strike to the head of the opponent at the time.

He later said that the rule had not been properly explained to him before the bout and that the rules weren’t explained properly to him in the event he fought Okami. Silva’s first foray in martial arts began as a child training jiu-jitsu with neighborhood kids, and as a teen, Silva began training in taekwondo, capoeira and muay thai. Silva fought Jeremy Horn and earned a decision victory in June 2004. Three months later, Silva fought and defeated noted striker Lee Murray by decision. In his first fight with the Pride FC promotion, he stopped Alex Stiebling with a cut resulting from a high kick. In December 2004, Silva returned to Pride FC on 31 December to face Ryo Chonan. Despite being the underdog, Silva ended the fight in the third round with a rare flying scissor heel hook, forcing Silva to submit. After the loss to ChonAn he was cut by Pride, Silva continued fighting in the cage Rage promotion. He then joined Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira’s team and started to fight in other promotions. In May 2005, Silva defended his Cage Rage title against Curtis Stout. Although he was slated to fight Matt Lindland at Cage Rage 16, Lindland’s decision to fight Mike Van Arsdale at Raze Fight Night put an end to the highly anticipated match up. Silva then defended his championship against Tony Fryklund.