Bigfoot Silva set to return at October MMA event in Florida

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Bigfoot Silva will return to the cage this fall when he takes on Brett Martin at a Taura MMA event in Florida.

Combate was the first to report that Bigfoot would be returning to action against Martin, one of the top heavyweight contenders in LFA. According to the report, Bigfoot has signed a three-fight contract with Taura MMA and will make his promotional debut on October 30 when he takes on Martin in a featured heavyweight fight in Kissimmee, Florida.

Bigfoot (19-12, 1 NC) is making his return to mixed martial arts after three years away from the sport. The 40-year-old Brazilian was once one of the top heavyweights in the sport and even holds notable wins over the likes of Alistair Overeem, Travis Browne, and Fedor Emelianenko. But he flamed out badly in MMA and took a long break from the sport.

Between 2013 and 2017, Bigfoot went 1-8, 1 NC with seven knockout losses, including a nasty five-fight losing skid that saw him get knocked out in brutal fashion in four of those fights. His lone win since 2013, when he fought Cain Velasquez for the UFC heavyweight championship, is a TKO win over Soa Palelei in 2015.

After taking a break from MMA, Bigfoot competed in both GLORY kickboxing and in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, losing by knockout to Rico Verhoeven and Gabriel Gonzaga in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He last competed in combat sports in October 2019 when he suffered a brutal KO loss to Gonzaga in BKFC.

Martin (8-1, 1 NC) is one of the top heavyweight prospects in North America right now. The 26-year old American made his MMA debut in 2016 and has so far racked up a nice record of 8-1 with four of those wins coming by stoppage. However, he is coming off of two straight wins via DQ in LFA after his opponents hurt him with illegal strikes.

He actually went 4-0 in 2019, so he has plenty of momentum coming into this fight. In his last outing at LFA 77, Martin would have won the promotion’s heavyweight belt after his opponent lost via DQ. However, because Martin missed weight he was not eligible to win the belt. He has not competed since then.

This is an important fight for both men as Bigfoot needs a win to show he still has what it takes to compete in MMA while for Martin, a win over Bigfoot if he makes weight could be just what he needs to punch his ticket to the UFC.

Who do you think wins, Bigfoot Silva or Brett Martin?