Wanderlei Silva was hospitalized after being brutally knocked out in a post-match brawl in Sao Paulo, Brazil, moments after being disqualified for several illegal shots during his exhibition boxing match with Acelino Freitas at Spaten Fight Night 2. Silva’s cornerman Fabricio Werdum released a statement on social media in which he revealed Silva had to […]
Wanderlei Silva was hospitalized after being brutally knocked out in a post-match brawl in Sao Paulo, Brazil, moments after being disqualified for several illegal shots during his exhibition boxing match with Acelino Freitas at Spaten Fight Night 2.
Silva’s cornerman Fabricio Werdum released a statement on social media in which he revealed Silva had to be stitched up, and claims that Silva fractured his nose when a man punched him out cold during the brawl. That man has been identified as Freitas’ son, Rafael.
Acelino, a former WBA and WBO champion, criticized members of Silva’s crew for the incident, namely Werdum and Andre Dida.
“When the fight ended, the referee disqualified Wanderlei for the three head butts he hit me, and his coach went after me and punched me, he really hurt me,” Freitas said on a video posted on his social media. “Wanderlei, the fight was between you and me and had nothing to do with the team. If you head butted me, cool, I don’t care. But, unfortunately, Werdum cowardly entered the ring with your son [Thor Silva] and went all over everybody. And I saw that someone also punched you.”
“We tried delivering you a perfect [show] and I end up beat by his coach out of nowhere, man,” he continued. “Another guy tried to rear-naked choke me, almost chokes me out. … I’d like to apologize to Ambev and Spaten. But I’m telling you, we had no fault. Cowardly, it was his team. And I don’t know why they put Werdum in this event. This guy only does shit in other people’s events. Werdum, be ashamed. If I were you, I’d be ashamed. There’s video of you all over me, trying to hit me.”
Werdum had a different account of the situation, blaming Freitas’ team for the “horrible” incident.
“The images don’t lie,” Werdum said on social media. “Everybody saw what happened. We were in there, Dida, Thor and I, and we entered the ring when it was all over and Wanderlei was disqualified, and a lot of people entered from Popo’s side. I think it was 20 of them, and only me, Wanderlei, Thor and Dida. and we were reacting to their attacks, you know? They started screaming and coming at us, and we were in four.”
“And it was so evil for that guy to punch Wanderlei,” he added. “He punched the back of the head of Wanderlei. I don’t know if it landed clean, but it could have been something very serious. Wanderlei is here in the hospital now, getting stitched up, it broke Wanderlei’s nose, because he was very mean. Wanderlei had his gloves one, tired from the fight.”
Globo reported that Silva was released from hospital after undergoing physical exams for approximately four hours.
The Brazilian National Boxing Council did not respond to a request for comment. Spaten Fight Night released a statement on its social media page.
“We believe that sportsmanship and respect to the rules must always prevail,” the statement read. “We reprove the events that happened after the end of the last match, it doesn’t represent these principles. We will continue to work to support and elevate the values of the sport and martial arts.”
Silva’s original opponent Vitor Belfort, who withdrew from the match after suffering concussions in training and was in attendance Saturday night, was called out by Freitas after the melee. “The Phenom” put most of the blame on Silva’s shoulders.
“What makes me sad is that reveals who they always were,” Belfort told the media at the venue after the incident (h/t Globo). “You literally destroyed something we built over years. Martial arts is respect, brother. You were fighting a great boxer. You shouldn’t even be in this ring with him. He stepped in on short notice and you do something like that.
“Popo, I want to congratulate you the patience you had during those rounds, but it’s sad to see some people admire that crap. I saw people [ringside] screaming, shouting. Guys, this is a sport. When you lose, you lose. And when you win, you win. But what makes me sad is the entire country of Brazil has seen this embarrassment. Wanderlei, you need to ask for forgiveness, brother, because what you did is not right.”
Category: General Sports
