Wanderlei Silva, and the man who attacked him after the boxing exhibition Saturday night, have finally spoken out on the incident that has gone viral over the last 24 hours. Silva, who was disqualified for multiple fouls against former boxing champion Acelino Freitas in Sao Paulo, was knocked out cold inside the ring by Freitas\u2019 son, Rafael.<\/p>\n
\u201cI broke my nose and had seven stitches on the eye,\u201d Silva said on social media posts. \u201cThat didn\u2019t happen during the match. \u2026 I have a lot of headaches, I\u2019ll do more tests here in Curitiba to identify if there\u2019s any more serious injury to the head. I\u2019ll also check with an ophthalmologist, because I can\u2019t open the eye. That was the damage caused yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same video, Silva\u2019s head coach Andre Dida said that they had to respond to attacks from members of Freitas\u2019 team after the main event of Spaten Fight Night 2.<\/p>\n
When Silva was disqualified, Freitas\u2019 cornermen stormed the ring and started taunting the opposite camp. An unidentified member of Freitas\u2019 team throws a kick at Thor Silva, Wanderlei\u2019s son, and they go at it. Former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum, Acelino Freitas and \u201cThe Axe Murderer\u201d were trying to calm things down, but Werdum and Dida eventually joined the brawl after the altercation between Thor and Freitas\u2019 team.<\/p>\n
Rafael Freitas deleted his social media account in the early hours of Sunday after being identified as the man who knocked Silva out. Freitas entered the ring and punched Silva in the back of the head, and then landed a right punch to his jaw to drop him unconscious. He spoke to Globo<\/a> about his actions and issued an apology to the 49-year-old MMA veteran.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I realized a brawl had started, initiated by Wanderlei\u2019s team, his son, his coach Andre Dida and Werdum,\u201d Freitas said. \u201cWhen I saw all of them assaulting my father and my brothers, I got in legitimate defense. In the heat of the moment, I only thought about defending my family.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Popo\u2019s\u2019 team entered the ring after the result and came at us, pointing fingers and cursing, like they\u2019ve been doing all week,\u201d Wanderlei Silva said on a different video. \u201cAt any moment I assaulted anybody. I was there holding people and then got hit in the back of the head, and then punched in the eye. I was cowardly assaulted. As you can see, my eye is still bleeding and I have a lot of headache.\u201d<\/p>\n Globo<\/a> aired an interview with Silva on Sunday night in which he says he\u2019s \u201ca fan\u201d of Freitas, but his team\u2019s actions were unacceptable. The MMA veteran said he would be down to talking to Freitas about the incident, but \u201cthere will be consequences\u201d for his son for the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThe match ended and instead of his guys enter the ring to celebrate with \u2018Popo\u2019 and lift him, they came at us,\u201d Silva said. \u201cThey were acting like that all week long, cursing at us. Even at the weigh-ins, one guy started screaming disrespectful words at me. When we met inside the ring [before the match], they were threatening and saying, \u2018This is not your place, we\u2019ll eat you, you\u2019re a dead dog.\u2019 I won\u2019t feel cornered. I was very upset to see an idol behaving like that with me. Look at my eye, I can\u2019t see. I\u2019m dying with pain at the back the head from the punches.\u201d<\/p>\n Werdum shared voice messages on his Instagram page<\/a> which he claims were sent by Acelino Freitas hours after the weigh-ins on Friday. Silva was annoyed that Freitas\u2019 team was talking trash at him, which he felt was unnecessary.<\/p>\n \u201cRelax brother, everybody will get beat up,\u201d Freitas allegedly said in a voice message to Werdum. \u201cWhen one gets beat in the corner, everybody gets beat. Be sure that when he loses, you will also lose. Be cool, brother. Get some sleep and dream about the loss tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Silva\u2019s lawyer Claudio Dalledone told Combate<\/a> that they will file a lawsuit against Rafael Freitas, calling his actions borderline attempted murder. Also, given Freitas alleged messages sent on Friday, they might also sue the retired boxer for allegedly \u201cincentivizing\u201d the attack.<\/p>\n Freitas will undergo surgery Monday for a broken hand. His coach told MMA Fighting he suffered the injury during the match, not after. On his social media, the boxer claimed the audio messages were \u201cmanipulated\u201d<\/a> to make it look like they premeditated those actions.<\/p>\n Freitas shared a video where Dida can be seen attacking him with two left hands to the face during the brawl, and said his brother and cornerman Luis Claudio saved him from the worst. Freitas said he apologizes on his behalf, as well as his team and sons, \u201cand hope it\u2019s reciprocated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no right and wrong in this episode,\u201d Freitas wrote. \u201cIt really was an unfortunate post-fight [incident] that overshadowed the belt I had won with bravery and technique against a much heavier giant in front of me, a MMA legend. Let\u2019s all recover and move on, guys. The noble art deserves that we leave aside every difference, and we can give the example that our sport is not violence.<\/p>\n