Bigfoot Silva believes 2018 will be his “comeback year”

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Antonio Bigfoot Silva, who was jettisoned by the UFC in 2016, is currently an undeniably brutal 1-8-1 in his last 10 bouts. And that’s not including a second-round knockout loss to Rico Verhoeven in the Glory ring.

Despite this tough skid, however, Bigfoot isn’t ready to hang up the gloves just yet. The hulking Brazilian is hoping to fight for another two years before he retires.

“One thing nobody wants to think about is retirement, but that’s a part of every fighter’s life,” Bigfoot told AG Fight (via BloodyElbow). “I think about fighting for two more years, but I still want to be involved with martial arts when I retire. I still want to do what I love. I want to open a jiu-jitsu gym. I’ve always wanted to work with children and feel that good energy. Of course I also want to work with adults, but only amateurs. I don’t want to train any professional MMA fighters. In the future, as one thing leads to another, I might start doing it. For now, I just want to put my gi on and teach some jiu-jitsu classes.”

Bigfoot’s last two MMA bouts—losses to Ivan Shtyrkov and Vitaly Minakov—have occurred in Russia, and that’s where he’s likely to stay for the time being. That said, he’s received some other offers, and he’s hoping to oblige them.

“I’m still in Russia. I’ve signed a four-fight contract. I believe I should be back in November. I had surgery on my knee and I’ll have to sit out until May. I’ll need some time to get back in shape and for my knee to get strong again. Some other promotions have called me and they want me to fight in August. We’ve talking about it to see if we can work something out. My contract allows me to fight for other promotions.”

Wherever he ends up fighting, Bigfoot is hoping 2018 will be the year he bounces back to his former form.

“I’ve had great moments and now I’m going through some hard times, but I’m sure I’ll get back on the horse,” he said. “I’ve been having a blessed 2018. God has given me a son and my surgery was a success and I’m recuperating greatly. So I believe 2018 will be comeback year”.

Do you think Bigfoot Silva can turn things around in the year 2018, or could it be time for the accomplished Brazilian heavyweight to call it career?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/28/2018.