Wanderlei Silva has not fought since 2013, and at his advanced age of 39 it seemed as though his MMA career was over. Three years later and Silva will be coming back to fight again, but instead of fighting in the UFC Silva will be fighting for Bellator MMA.
Silva has a career record of 35-12-1 and is an MMA legend, so his return is certainly a welcomed one. The last time the Brazilian put on the gloves was for a fight in March of 2013 when he knocked out Brian Stann in the second round for his 25th career knockout.
Although Silva has been absent for three years now, many in MMA circles always felt he was likely to come out of retirement. Silva agreed to a multi-fight deal with Bellator and likely will fight again at age 40-plus.
Silva retired in September of 2014 after he received a lifetime ban from mixed martial arts by the Nevada Athletic Commission for fleeing a random drug test. In 2015 though, Silva's ban was overturned by a Nevada district court which opened up the possibility of him fighting again. The ban was reduced from a lifetime ban to a three-year suspension which would allow Silva to fight again in 2017.
"The Axe Murderer" will be eligible to reapply for a fighting license in May of 2017. It is possible that Silva could fight before getting that license next May outside of Nevada, but doing so could complicate the process of him acquiring the license. Bellator did not provide any information on when Silva might debut or whom it might be against, but he is expected to fight in either the middleweight or light heavyweight division.
Silva is considered a legendary figure in the MMA world who is best known for holding the Pride FC middleweight belt when the Japanese promotion was at its peak. After leaving Pride FC Silva returned to the UFC where his career had gotten started, but his UFC career didn't end all that well as he accused it of fixing fights and it led to a defamation lawsuit. As part of the lawsuit Silva had to retract those accusations, but he was also released from his contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
