Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva Signs With Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title challenger and Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix semifinalist Antonio Silva has signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

On Thursday, the promotion announced that Silva would be joining the ranks of their bare knuckle roster. Other former UFC fighters of note to take to bare knuckle competition include Artem Lobov, Jason Knight, Leonard Garcia, Chris Lytle and Bec Rawlings, to name a few.

"Bigfoot" ended his MMA career on a five-fight losing streak, going 1-8 with a no-contest in his last 10. After Silva was released by the UFC in 2016, he competed and dropped a decision in Russia to Ivan Shtyrkov. His last MMA fight was a knockout loss at the hands of Vitaly Minakov in 2017.

"Bigfoot" has fought some of the best heavyweights in the world like Fedor Emelianenko, Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum and Frank Mir among others.

In the announcement, BKFC president David Feldman was elated at the potential bouts to come from signing Silva. "We are happy to announce the signing of 'Bigfoot' Silva to our roster," said Feldman. "He has fought and beat some of the best in the world. We have some intriguing matchups that we are talking about with him now. I really expect great fighters from Antonio."

His debut has not yet been announced, but it will be his first foray back into combat sports since October 2017, when he fought in Glory and was knocked out in the second stanza by longtime heavyweight king Rico Verhoeven.