The World Series Of Fighting promotion have announced that they’ve signed former UFC fighter Thiago Silva who will now take part in a new four-man light-heavyweight tournament to establish a new champion in the division.
Silva is set to face fellow Brazilian Ronny Markes in the first semi-final, while another former UFC fighter Matt Hamill will fight an as yet unnamed opponent in the other bracket.
The 32 year-old Silva has been traveling a rocky road over the past few years, failing two drug tests while in the UFC, suffering long-term injuries and then to cap it all off last year he was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill his estranged wife and her boyfriend while brandishing a gun.
As soon as word of the incident broke the UFC released Silva from his contract, but several months later the charges against him were dropped and they briefly brought him back into the fold before thinking better of it and showing him the exit door once again.
Despite his troubles Silva actually left the UFC on a two-fight winning streak and coincidentally his last victory came by unanimous decision against Hamill who he could potentially now be meeting in the final of this WSOF tournament.
Speaking of Hamill, he’s also had a difficult few years with injuries forcing him into retirement in 2011. However, a year later he opted to make a comeback and went 1-1 in a lackluster second stint in the UFC before being released in 2013.
In May of last year he signed for WSOF, but injuries held the 38 year-old back again and it looked like he was all set to hang up his gloves for a second time before the opportunity to fight in this tournament came along.
Completing this trio of former UFC fighters is Markes who was released last year after losing two in a row inside the Octagon. He’s since joined the WSOF and got back to winning ways against Cully Butterfield in August of last year.
The tournament will begin on March 28th and airs on NBC Sports.
