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#4: Thiago Silva
When he emerged onto the UFC scene back in 2007, Thiago Silva had a lot of hype – some fans even labelling him the “new Wanderlei Silva”. Initially he lived up to it, too – winning 4 in a row to set him up for a #1 contender’s match against Lyoto Machida in early 2009. He was knocked out by Machida, but bounced back with a win over Keith Jardine before a series of back injuries and failed drug tests saw him go 0-2 with 2 no contests.
2013 saw him bounce back with a pair of wins over Rafael Feijao and Matt Hamill, but in 2014, a nasty incident followed as he was arrested for threatening his ex-wife Thaysa and her boyfriend, jiu-jitsu champion Pablo Popovitch with a gun. That led to Silva’s release from the UFC, with Dana White stating that he’d never compete for the promotion again.
A brief move to the World Series of Fighting saw him lose in his only fight with them, but since then Silva has not retired and has remained active on the smaller circuit. A 2016 win over former contender Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou led to a contract with one of Europe’s bigger promotions – Absolute Championship Berkut – and he’s gone 2-2 with them, most recently losing a fight with Mikhail Kolobegov earlier this month.
