Bigfoot beaten badly by Verhoeven in China

Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva fought ten times in four years. He won once, had a majority draw changed to a No Contest over issues around his then legal use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy, and lost eight, seven by knockout.

Then in an unconscionable booking, he was matched with Glory heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven. The Dutch champion is a decade younger, and in a reverse to Silva lost just one of his last ten, in fact of his last 14. And Bigfoot had never before competed in kickboxing.

Silva’s manager is on record as saying he wished Bigfoot did not take the fight, but noted he needs the money.

The irresponsible fight went down in China this weekend.

https://twitter.com/UFCFightPass/status/919176428360384512

The sole blessing here is that the referee stopped it so Silva was not beaten until he was completely unconscious.

“The low kicks were part of the gameplan,” said Verhoeven afterward, as transcribed by Darragh Murphy for SportsJoe. “He’s from MMA, so low kicks are different in the MMA game, so it was part of the game: hurt him on the leg and finish him on top.”

Silva posted a message afterward on his social network.

https://twitter.com/BigfootSilva/status/919207631478071298

As a fan of ‘Bigfoot’ Silva’s, as someone who believes he was half of the greatest heavyweight fight in MMA history, I hope he’s not back soon. I hope he retires with his mind intact.