Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva married his longtime girlfriend, former gymnast Dayane, in the Summer of 2011, after being together for 20 years. They have two daughters and three sons together. His wife appeared in the 2009 feature film ‘Never Surrender’.

Anderson da Silva was born on April 14, 1975 in São Paulo, Brazil. He was one of four children of his father, who was a police officer. He spent most of his childhood with his aunt and uncle.

As his family could not afford his jiu-jitsu lessons, he started by watching neighborhood kids fight, and later practicing with them. By the time he was 12, his family was able to pay for his taekwondo lessons. He briefly learned Capoeira and then moved on to Muay Thai at the age of sixteen.

He was part of the famed Chute Box Academy, but later parted ways following a bitter argument over payments. The academy reportedly ordered Pride not to give him more fights, but later Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira took him under his wings and helped him develop his potential.

In 1997, Anderson Silva started his professional fighting career in Brazil in the welterweight category with two back-to-back wins, followed by his first loss to Luiz Azeredo in 2000. However, he soon rebounded with a nine-fight winning streak, including one against the then-undefeated Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai on August 26, 2001 in Japan, which made him the new Shooto Middleweight Champion.

He started his Pride Fighting Championships run with three wins during 2002-03, but then lost to underdog Daiju Takase at Pride 26, following which he even considered quitting MMA. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira convinced him to continue fighting and to join his Brazilian Top Team.

On September 11, 2004, he earned a decision win against renowned striker Lee Murray at Cage Rage 8 in London, thereby winning the Cage Rage Middleweight Championship. After his loss to Ryo Chonan on December 31, 2004 by submission, he was cut by Pride FC and returned to Cage to defend his title against Jorge Rivera and Curtis Stout.

He then participated in Hawaii's Rumble on the Rock promotion against Yushin Okami, but was disqualified despite being the favorite after he, unaware of the rules, kicked him in the face when he was down. While Okami was reportedly in a position to fight, he chose the disqualification win, which Silva called cheap and cowardly.

In April 2006, at Cage Rage 16, after his highly anticipated match up with Matt Lindland was cancelled, he fought Tony Fryklund instead and defended his title. Later that month, he signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC and debuted at Ultimate Fight Night 5 on June 28, 2006, winning against Chris Leben via KO.

Anderson Silva is a former Shooto Middleweight Champion and UFC Middleweight Champion. He has a number of UFC records under his belt, including most consecutive title defenses, most successful title defenses, most consecutive wins in the UFC and longest win streak in UFC history.