UFC fighter Thiago Silva charged with aggravated assault, remains jailed without bond
Feb 7, 2014, 7:30 PM | Updated: 7:30 pm
According to a report from South Florida’s NBC-6 TV, UFC light heavyweight fighter Silva was taken into custody following an four hour standoff with police at a residential home.
Broward Sheriff’s Office officials later told several media outlets that a man was eventually taken into custody after a SWAT team set up a perimeter around the house. Silva’s name was not initially released.
This all stemmed from an incident at the Pablo Popovitch Mixed Martial Academy in Oakland Park, Fla. on Thursday night.
TMZ Sports reported a police report from Thursday’s incident states Silva threatened his wife with a gun and accused her of having extramarital affairs with gym own Popovitch while demanding, “You have 10 seconds to bring Pablo outside and if he does not come out, I will go in the gym and start shooting everyone.”
After Popovitch arrived on the scene, Silva then threatened to kill both of them before speeding off to his home after the gym owner ran inside the building and called the police.
On Friday morning, another report from NBC-6 showed Silva handcuffed and being led into the back of a police car as he told a camera man, “She wanted my house and she wanted my money. Just don’t report. Can you do that for me?”
This is not the first time Silva has threatened his wife as she is also alleging he put a gun in her mouth and threatened to kill her after he accused her of cheating on him during an argument in late January.
After his bond hearing Friday morning, the charges against the troubled UFC fighter were reduced to two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting an officer without violence.
He was originally charged with two counts of attempted felony murder, one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting an officer without violence but Judge John Hurley determined there was there was no probable cause on the attempted murder charges.
However, Silva will remain in prison without bond after Hurley determined the UFC light heavyweight was still a threat to his wife and those around him due to his size and profession.
“The court is concerned this looks like ongoing domestic violence in the relationship,” said Hurley. “You’re an MMA fighter, and your size gives great concern, with or without a weapon, you could easily kill your wife. If you’re released from custody, the court is concerned you would approach your wife again and concerned you would bring great harm to her or kill her.”
Hurley also cited the potential risk of Silva fleeing to his native country of Brazil as another reason reason to not grant Silva the $2,500,100 bond initially planned for the four changes against him.
The UFC has released the following statement:
“This evening, we were made aware of a situation involving Thiago Silva. We are in the process of gathering the facts and have no further comment at this time.”
UFC president Dana White has also told Yahoo! Sports and TMZ, “This guy will never fight in the UFC again.”
Silva (16-3), who is currently the number 12 light heavyweight according to the official UFC fighter rankings, was originally scheduled to face Ovince St. Preux at UFC 171 on March 15 in Dallas.
