{"id":175426,"date":"2025-09-28T13:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/175426\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T13:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:28:07","slug":"wanderlei-silvas-worrying-comments-about-a-traumatic-brain-injury-resurface-after-scary-brawl-ko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/175426\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanderlei Silva’s worrying comments about a ‘traumatic brain injury’ resurface after scary brawl KO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wanderlei Silva expressed serious concern about his health a year before his comeback ended in disaster.<\/p>\n

Things did not go to plan for Silva in his return to action after seven years away. The Pride and UFC<\/a> legend made a controversial comeback at the age of 49, having not competed since Bellator 206 in 2018.<\/p>\n

The UFC Hall of Famer had a difficult time of things back then, with \u2018Rampage\u2019 Jackson knocking out Silva<\/a> to seemingly end the Brazilian\u2019s career. The result marked his ninth loss in 13 fights, a run that included a number of devastating KOs.<\/p>\n

That appeared to leave \u2018The Axe Murderer\u2019 experiencing the concerning health problems that can come with a lengthy career in fighting. But that did not stop Silva\u2019s return from being sanctioned on Saturday, and it unfortunately ended in brutal fashion.<\/p>\n

Wanderlei Silva revealed severe health issues in letter to support the UFC antitrust settlement<\/p>\n

Wanderlei Silva<\/a> returned at Spaten Fight Night 2 on September 27, facing former two-division Brazilian boxing champion Acelino Freitas in the ring. Their exhibition match came after Anderson Silva faced Chael Sonnen<\/a> in the promotion\u2019s very first headliner last year.<\/p>\n

While those two UFC legends fought to a draw in a largely lackluster affair, there was nothing dull about how the latest event concluded. <\/p>\n

After some controversial tactics from the Pride legend, Silva was disqualified for repeatedly head-butting Freitas. That resulted in both teams furiously storming the ring, sparking an all-out brawl featuring former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum.<\/p>\n

Silva was brutally knocked out in the brawl<\/a> by a man wearing a tuxedo. The scary scene of the Brazilian\u2019s lifeless body being dragged away from the melee brought some comments from 2024 back to the surface.<\/p>\n

While petitioning for the UFC antitrust settlement to be approved, Silva revealed the worrying health problems he was suffering from, including the symptoms of CTE.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear that during my career I have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) and am noticing symptoms common with TBI and CTE including depression, mood swings, and irritability,\u201d Silva wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suffer from sleep apnea and have difficulty sleeping and breathing. That I can recall, I have had four surgeries on my nose, one on my face, two on my left knee, one on my right knee and one on my elbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silva provided a positive update from the hospital<\/a> after Saturday\u2019s event, but that likely won\u2019t do much to squash the frustration surrounding his ability to return at 49 despite his self-admitted health issues.<\/p>\n

\"WanderleiPhoto by Josh Hedges\/Zuffa LLC\/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesWhat Dana White said about Wanderlei Silva\u2019s comeback<\/p>\n

Silva\u2019s comeback was originally set to come in MMA under the banner of the Global Fight League, a team-based promotion that signed a host of prominent names before failing to stage a single event and disappearing from the scene.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Axe Murderer\u2019 was among the likes of Luke Rockhold, Tyron Woodley, Paige VanZant, Alexander Gustafsson, and Frank Mir on the roster.<\/p>\n

Dana White reacted to Silva\u2019s comeback plan<\/a> during a December 2024 press conference, simply saying, \u201cI\u2019ll believe it when I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UFC president will likely be hoping he didn\u2019t have to see it, like most, when footage of Silva\u2019s scary KO in the Spaten Fight Night brawl reaches him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wanderlei Silva expressed serious concern about his health a year before his comeback ended in disaster. Things did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82,640,79972],"class_list":{"0":"post-175426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-ufc","12":"tag-wanderlei-silva"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}