If there is one saving grace here, it’s that Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva wasn’t knocked completely unconscious.
Far too often, fighters hang around the fight game for too long and it literally takes years off some competitors’ lives.
And rather than walk away from combat sports following a recent mixed martial arts record of one victory, eight defeats and one No Contest; ‘Bigfoot’ made the bizarre decision to accept a straight kickboxing contest against one of the sport’s fiercest combatants.
Three consecutive knockout defeats saw the Brazilian released by the UFC in 2016 and the heavyweight lost his subsequent pair of MMA contests in Russia.
Whether he wanted to or not, there is no way in hell that Silva should have been matched up with Rico Verhoeven in GLORY.
That’s borderline sick behaviour.
Verhoeven went into the contest with a kickboxing record of 51-10-1 and the opening bell should never have sounded in China this weekend.
WOW! @RicoVerhoeven gets the TKO in the 2nd round against Bigfoot Silva after the referee steps in. #GLORY46 @GLORY_WS #UFCFIGHTPASS pic.twitter.com/2SORQbUM9H
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) October 14, 2017
Verhoeven simply had his way with the 38-year-old and such was the disdain he had for Silva’s striking, he turned his output into something of a showcase affair, throwing spinning kicks and landing at will on what was, for all intents and purposes, a punching bag.
The referee had finally seen enough in the second round and saved ‘Bigfoot’ but surely the time has come, for his health and for his family’s well-being to walk away from the sport.
“The low kicks were part of the gameplan,” Verhoeven said of the routine win. “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.”
Enough is enough and ‘Bigfoot’ has to walk away now while he still can.
He’ll always have a victory over Fedor Emelianenko, he’ll always have that UFC classic with Mark Hunt but he should be able to speak to his children and grandchildren when he’s older.
He has nothing to prove. He should get out before it’s too late.
