Issue 179

June 2019

No, he won't eat your liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti, but Claudio Silva does have a mean streak and if he can stay injury-free, he's sure to leave his mark on the UFC this year.

UFC London 2019 may be best remembered for Jorge Masvidal knocking out Darren Till and then delivering a “three-piece and a soda” to Leon Edwards, but another welterweight contender on the card made a big statement when Claudio “Hannibal” Silva defeated Danny Roberts to extend his winning streak that dates all the way back to 2007.

Silva has quietly built up a 13-1 record with wins over Bradley Scott, Leon Edwards, Nordine Taleb and Roberts under the UFC banner. Silva’s record just tells a fraction of his story though and a closer inspection of his career shows that there were 1,296 days between his fight with Edwards in November 2014 and his fight with Taleb in May 2018.

It’s a little-known story, but during that period Silva went through hell and back just to keep his MMA career alive.

Many would look at his victories inside the Octagon as the most impressive achievements so far in his career, but as Silva explains, his greatest battle to date has been with his own body.

“I had surgery, four surgeries on my left foot and it took me a long time to recover from that, two years and a half actually,” Silva recalls.

“Before that surgery, I also broke both feet and then after I cleared that up, I tore the tendon of my biceps. It was a very tough time for me. After going through all of that I returned to London and started seeing new doctors and trying out new therapies which really worked for me. I’m not going to lie though; it was a very difficult time for me."

After spending so long on the sidelines and seeing his body break down time after time, Silva knew he needed to make adjustments to everyday living. Before solving his physical problems though, the 36-year-old realized he first had to adjust his mental attitude towards training and he admits that this was the catalyst to him staying off the treatment table and getting back into the Octagon.

“The key thing I did was that I just started listening to my body,” Silva reflects. “I used to have the old school mentality that I have to train hard every single day, even if I was feeling tired and rundown. The majority of my injuries happened because I ignored everything my body was telling me and I just continued to push it harder and harder. Now I take a very different approach and I just train depending on how I feel.

“At the moment, I am only training once a day with three weight sessions throughout the week,” he continued. “I used to train three times a day and my body simply couldn’t take it. It broke down but finally I started listening. When I’m in fight camp I’ll do two a day with one in the morning and one in the evening. I never do anything more than that.”

Despite his lengthy period on the sidelines, Silva never lost belief that he would one day fight again in the UFC. His motivation to once again compete at the highest level was rarely fuelled by those around him, but with his desire to fight the best in the world still burning strong, it wasn’t a dream that he was ever going to give up on.

“Despite the injuries, I always believed I would be back,” Silva explains. “I never had any doubt, but people around me like my family and friends did. They would say to me, ‘You don’t need to fight again. You’ve won twice in the UFC. You have nothing to prove.’ I never wanted to quit though and not for a second did it ever cross my mind. I never signed to the UFC just to make up the numbers; I signed to be the champion. I believe the only thing that has stopped me is my injuries, but my record speaks for itself.”

The origins of Silva’s fighting spirit stems back to his childhood where his fighting days began back on the streets of his hometown of Rondonpolis in Brazil. Little did he know at the time, but one particular conflict would later prove to be significant for him being given his fighter nickname.

“When I was back in Brazil I used to watch the film Hannibal a lot with my uncle,” Silva said. “One day, when I was 13, I was hanging out with my older cousins and they were making jokes about me, saying I was fat and this and that. I snapped and I choked out my cousin, left him in a bin, and then walked off home. My uncle saw this and then started calling me ‘Hannibal’ because it was a pretty violent thing to do. He thought I was crazy the way I just choked him out and walked off like nothing had happened.

“I started using it as my nickname when I fought in BAMMA and my uncle told me to wear my Hannibal mask for my walkout,” he continues. “I didn’t think they would let me do it but the next thing I know I’m walking out to my fight wearing the mask and all the fans are cheering me on. From there on, it just stuck with me. I’d do anything to please my uncle and it works, you know. Everybody loves the nickname. I used to be a savage, but London has turned me into a gentleman; a true British gentleman.”

Whilst spending much of his early life in his native Brazil, Silva moved to Italy in 2005 before later moving on to London just two years later. It was later that same year that Silva began his professional MMA career, but it was accomplishments in jiu-jitsu that opened up the door for him to enter the UK with the correct visa.

“I’ve lived in London since 2007 and it’s a funny story how I got here,” Silva recalls. “I was living in Italy with my aunt and I had just won the BJJ Europeans. One of my friends invited me to London and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to come here and learn English. I turned up in London, I couldn’t speak a word of the language, I had a one-way ticket and just £200 to my name. I literally just had a letter that said I was coming to teach a seminar, but of course, if you’re teaching you’re earning money so I had none of the paperwork I needed to get in the country.

“I was taken to the Home Office where I had some Brazilian people translate the conversation,” he continues. “The guy asked me to prove I was a BJJ fighter, so I just pulled out my BJJ Euros medal and showed it to him. He then spoke to his manager and came back and told me that he’d been working in the job for 15 years and he’d never seen anyone get in the country like me. I don’t know why they did it in the end, but they stamped my visa and let me in. It was incredible.”

Having lived in the English capital for 12 years and with many of his big lifetime milestones occurring whilst living in the city, Silva’s connection to London will forever be strong. Brazil will always be the place of his birth, but London now holds a significant place in his heart.

“From the very start I did my best just to stay around British people because I really wanted to learn English,” Silva says. “I’ve still not totally got it, but I think my English has come on a long way. I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since I moved here now. I love everything about London and I consider it my second home.

“I call myself a British-Brazilian and I now live in a place that overlooks the O2 where I fought at UFC London. All the best things in my life have happened here in London. This is where I got my BJJ black belt, it’s where I got my first BJJ academy, and it’s where I signed my contract to join the UFC. This is my home now.”

Living just a stone’s throw from the London 02 Arena, Silva fulfilled a lifetime ambition earlier this year when he fought at the venue at UFC London. His submission victory over Roberts was shrouded with confusion in the immediate aftermath after Roberts claimed that he had not tapped to Silva’s armbar, but Silva has always been adamant that the referee was correct in stopping the fight when he did.

“The rules are clear and he shouted,” Silva recalls. “When somebody has a submission hold on you and you shout, it’s a verbal submission. It’s in the rules. Danny fights in the UFC, the biggest promotion in the world so he must know the rules. When he was elbowing me in the face I didn’t shout out or anything. I simply kept my composure I didn’t shout or scream. As soon as I got the armbar on he shouted out twice and he even said as much in the interview afterwards. He should know the rules.

With a fourth UFC win under his belt and a clean bill of health, Silva believes it’s now time for him to fight a big name in the UFC welterweight division. Who his next opponent will be remains to be seen, but Silva wasn’t afraid to request a showdown with another man who has recently been recuperating from a long-term injury on the sidelines.

“I want to fight Matt Brown,” Silva says. “That’s the fight I want but if that doesn’t happen then I’m happy to take whoever they want me to fight. Right now I just have to keep on winning and keep doing what I’ve been doing.

“All these other guys are just moaning and saying they deserve this and that,” he continues. “I prefer to do my talking in my fights and if I keep on winning I know I will get the opportunities that I deserve. You just got to keep winning and keep finishing your fights. It’s simple. Whatever fight they give me I will take and I will win it.”

With the wind in his sails from his victory in March, 2019 could be the year Silva makes inroads into the top 15, and with his injury problems now behind him, he’s got his eyes set on doing exactly that. Having spent long periods out of action and finished eight of his 15 wins inside the first round, Silva has rarely been involved in wars that have seen him take significant damage and he believes that stands in him good stead for a very busy year.

“I’m 36 now, but I’m not old in fighting terms,” Silva said. “I haven’t taken that much damage and a lot of the years recently I spent on the sidelines healing injuries. My background is BJJ so before I did MMA I never took that much damage, unlike guys who have come from Muay Thai and kickboxing. I think that makes a huge difference so I will just keep on fighting as long as my body allows me to.

This year I want to get two more fights. I’ve not fought three times in a year for a long time so it would be a big deal for me to do that. 2019 is going to be the year the rest of the fighters in my division realize who the real Hannibal is.”