Brief History
Wanderlei grew up looking in to the Chute Boxe Academy in Curitiba, Brazil when his bus would pass by. Dreaming of joining there ranks intriged by the fact that in Chute Boxe would always have someone better then him to train with Wanderlei finally joined them and hasn't went to another gym since.
Early in his career Wanderlei would compete in several Val Tudo tournaments in Brazil and made a name for himself in the process. Even catching the eyes of a then struggling UFC and competed at UFC Brazil: Ultimate Brazil (other wise known as UFC 17.5) agaisnt Vitor Belfort. Even though Wanderlei lost, He would return to the UFC twice at UFC 20 beating Tony Petarra and at UFC 25 to challenge for a vacent UFC Middleweight title which he fell short of in a hard fought Unanimous desicion loss to Tito Ortiz.
Wanderlei would start showing up in PRIDE almost exclusivly after his loss to Tito Ortiz and became a fan favorite after defeating Japanese MMA Legend Kazushi Sakuraba. Wanderlei would face off against Sakuraba twice afterwards, becoming the first the PRIDE Middleweight Championship in the process.
Outside of a draw with Mirko Filipovic Wanderlei went undefeated in PRIDE until his fight with Mark Hunt, a man who weighed in a good 80 pounds heavier then Wanderlei. Hunt would defeat Wanderlei in a split decision victory. Wanderlei would suffer another loss to Ricardo Arona before going back on a 2 win streak.
On July 8th, 2006 Wanderlei would return to the UFC Octagon after the Shamrock/Ortiz 2 controversy happened. Dana White came out to the Octagon and stated "Alright, I know all of you are alittle pissed right now...but hopefully this will make things better, I got someone who wants to say something" as Wanderlei toke the mic and spurred out "I want to fuck chuck...Fight Chuck". The clip would become an Instant Internet hit. Since then many people have commented on how Silva ment to say that and PRIDE still havnt agreed to any terms to allow Silva to face Chuck Liddell.
During the PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Wanderlei while replacing Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko would suffer his hardest loss yet to Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic. As they faced off in a rematch during the semi finals Wanderlei would be ko'd in the first round from a Left High kick. CroCop would go on to win the tournament.
In his Fighting return to the USA Wanderlei would be a Heavy favorite in his fight with Dan Henderson as PRIDE promoted Silva on all the posters and posed the question "Is he a god? is he a Devil" in the opening videos. Wanderlei came out and never fully toke control of the fight only mounting effective offense in the final minutes of the first round. Wanderlei would be knocked out in the third round off a Left counter hook from Henderson. Reports have suffered about Wanderlei's health during the fight but none have been confirmed.
Professional MMA Record Loss Dan Henderson KO (Punches) PRIDE 33-Second Coming 2/24/2007 3 2:08
Loss Mirko Filipovic KO (Head Kick) PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute 9/10/2006 1 5:26
Win Kazuyuki Fujita TKO (Strikes) PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute 7/1/2006 1 9:21
Win Ricardo Arona Decision (Split) PRIDE Shockwave 2005 12/31/2005 3 5:00
Loss Ricardo Arona Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 8/28/2005 2 5:00
Win Kazuhiro Nakamura TKO (Strikes) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 6/24/2005 1 5:24
Win Hidehiko Yoshida Decision (Split) PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 4/23/2005 3 5:00
Loss Mark Hunt Decision (Split) PRIDE Shockwave 2004 12/31/2004 3 5:00
Win Quinton Jackson KO (Knees) PRIDE 28 - High Octane 10/31/2004 2 3:26
Win Yuki Kondo KO (Stomps) PRIDE Final Conflict 2004 8/15/2004 1 2:46
Win Ikuhisa Minowa KO (Punches) PRIDE Bushido 2 2/15/2004 1 1:09
Win Quinton Jackson TKO (Strikes) PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 11/9/2003 1 6:28
Win Hidehiko Yoshida Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 11/9/2003 2 5:00
Win Kazushi Sakuraba KO(Punch) PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 8/10/2003 1 5:01
Win Hiromitsu Kanehara TKO (Towel) PRIDE 23 - Championship Chaos 2 11/24/2002 1 3:40
Win Tatsuya Iwasaki TKO (Strike) PRIDE Shockwave 8/28/2002 1 1:16
Draw Mirko Filipovic Draw PRIDE 20 - Armed and Ready 4/28/2002 3 5:00
Win Kiyoshi Tamura TKO (Punch) PRIDE 19 - Bad Blood 4/24/2002 2 2:28
Win Alexander Otsuka TKO (Doctor Stoppage) PRIDE 18 - Cold Fury 2 12/23/2001 3 2:2
Win Kazushi Sakuraba TKO (Doctor Stoppage) PRIDE 17 - Championship Chaos 11/3/2001 1 10:00
Win Shungo Oyama TKO (Strikes) PRIDE 14 - Clash of the Titans 5/27/2001 1 0:30
Win Kazushi Sakuraba TKO (Strikes) PRIDE 13 - Collision Course 3/25/2001 1 1:38
Win Dan Henderson Decision PRIDE 12 - Cold Fury 12/9/2000 3 5:00
NC Gilbert Yvel No Contest (Yvel kicked in the groin) PRIDE 11 - Battle of the Rising Sun 10/31/2000 1 0:21
Win Guy Mezger KO (Strikes) PRIDE 10 - Return of the Warriors 8/27/2000 1 3:45
Win Todd Medina KO (Knees) Meca 2 - Meca World Vale Tudo 2 8/12/2000 1 0:39
Loss Tito Ortiz Decision (Unanimous) UFC 25 - Ultimate Japan 3 4/14/2000 5 5:00
Win Bob Schrijber Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round 1/30/2000 1 2:42
Win Daijiru Matsui Decision PRIDE 8 11/21/1999 2 10:00
Win Carl Malenko Decision PRIDE 7 9/12/1999 2 10:00
Win Tony Petarra KO (Knee to the Head) UFC 20 Battle for the Gold 5/7/1999 1 2:53
Win Eugene Jackson Submission (Strikes) IVC 10 World Class Champions 4/27/1999 1 0:32
Win Adriano Serrano KO (Punches and Kick) IVC 9 The Revenge 1/20/1999 1 0:22
Loss Vitor Belfort TKO (Strikes) UFC Brazil Ultimate Brazil 10/16/1998 1 0:44
Win Mike Van Arsdale KO (Punch and Kick) IVC 6 The Challenge 8/23/1998 1 4:00
Loss Artur Mariano TKO (Cut) IVC 2 A Question of Pride 9/15/1997 2 13:10
Win Egidio da Costa Submission (Punches) IVC 2 A Question of Pride 9/15/1997 1 2:27
Win Sean Bornett KO (Kick) IVC 2 A Question of Pride 9/15/1997 1 1:19
Win Marcelao Marcelao Submission (Shoulder Injury) BVF 10 Brazilian Vale Tudo 10 7/1/1997 1 0:20
Win Dilson Filho KO (Punch) BVF 6 Brazilian Vale Tudo 6 11/1/1996 1 3:35