'Bigfoot' Silva knows his positive drug test 'spoiled' the epic war with Mark Hunt
The last time Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva was inside the UFC Octagon he was engaged in arguably one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all time after going to war with Mark Hunt for five rounds in Australia last December.
The fight ended in a draw, but nobody seemed to mind. The two men fought their hearts out in a bloody brawl and it almost seemed wrong that one of them had to go home marked as a loser.
As magnificent as the fight was at the time, a couple of weeks after the show was over, a drug test administered to Silva revealed he competed with elevated levels of testosterone. The positive test not only cost him a $50,000 'Fight of the Night' bonus but also his win bonus that was originally paid to him after the incredible fight against Hunt.
Silva also had to sit on the shelf for the next nine months as punishment for the infraction.
Silva can't ignore the stain his positive drug test left on the battle against Hunt. It actually marked the second time the heavyweight has failed a test during his career as he continues to suffer from acromegaly -- a condition that produces extra growth hormone and lowers his testosterone dramatically.
He just hopes he has the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans starting with his main event fight against Andrei Arlovski.
"It spoiled the shine of the fight a little bit, for sure," Silva told FOX Sports. "I'm going to surpass that, come back and hopefully I can do another fight like that in the future so everybody will forget that."
Silva's desire for redemption might also explain why he didn't complain much when he was offered the fight against Arlovski this weekend. Four years ago, Silva trumped Arlovski by unanimous decision in a fight the two heavyweights had while competing under the Strikeforce banner.
It wasn't a bad fight by any means, but there wasn't any real question about Silva's victory either. He shut out Arlovski and cruised to a unanimous decision win.
So why do it again?
"It doesn't matter who I'm fighting. I respect them all equal," Silva said. "I don't mind at all fighting Arlovski again."
If Silva is victorious this weekend it does land him in a rather precarious position in the heavyweight division. He's been finished twice by the UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez so there's little chance he'll get anywhere close to him again.
A win by Fabricio Werdum doesn't help Silva's title fight chances much either. Silva lost to him by unanimous decision in 2009.
Still, the Brazilian will be rooting for his countryman to take home the title even if he doesn't get the next shot or the next one after that. Silva seems resigned to taking the fights the UFC gives him whether he ever gets another crack at the belt or not.
"It's a tough fight. My rooting will be for a friend and a fellow Brazilian, Fabricio Werdum, but the fight can go either way. They are both great athletes," Silva said. "I'm an employee the UFC, if the UFC thinks I should fight Werdum, I will fight him. If they think I should fight somebody else, so be it.
"The main thing is I enjoy fighting and I'm willing to fight anybody they put in front of me."
