'Bigfoot' Sighting: Antonio Silva Possible for Sengoku in September

Jake RossenJul 01, 2009
Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, the SUV-sized heavyweight who once held the EliteXC heavyweight title, could return to action on a September Sengoku event, per MMAJunkie. The bout could precipitate a return to the states sometime later in the year.

Silva’s last fight on U.S. soil was in July 2008; he was suspended for a positive performance substance test and was handed a suspension by the California Commission -- a result Silva and his representation have adamantly denied. To the commission’s disapproval, he fought in a January 2009 Sengoku bout against Yoshihiro Nakao. While there’s always a need for quality heavyweights -- and Silva has only one loss on record -- he did himself no favors by ignoring that ban, which has an unofficial blanket effect on competing anywhere in the world. (The board actually fined Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, $2,500 forarranging the overseas bout in January; Silva’s camp rebutted with a civil suit.)

“I think we’re past that problem with the commission,” Davis told MMAJunkie. “It was very unfortunate.”