{"id":187932,"date":"2016-03-02T10:07:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T18:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=187932"},"modified":"2016-03-02T10:07:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T18:07:46","slug":"breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bellator MMA has just announced the signing of former UFC and PRIDE veteran Wanderlei Silva. The legendary fighter who announced his retirement after a <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/wanderlei-silva-i-never-tested-positive-but-they-want-to-ban-me-from-mma\/\">lifetime ban from MMA<\/a> after <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/wanderlei-ran-from-commission-drug-testers-vitor-belfort-vs-chael-sonnen-for-title-shot\/\">evading a random drug test<\/a> has come out of retirement since being released by the UFC and a re-hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission. Silva&#8217;s received an <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/wanderlei-the-axe-murderer-silva-gets-3-years-from-nsac\/\">amended three-year suspension<\/a> after the re-hearing and will be eligible to fight in the spring of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Via Bellator MMA:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>SANTA MONICA (March 2, 2016) \u2013Bellator MMA is pleased to announce that one of the most popular, recognizable and beloved fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts, Wanderlei \u201cThe Axe Murderer\u201d Silva (35-12-1), has signed an exclusive multi-year, multi-fight contract with the promotion. The 39-year-old publicly fielded offers from companies all around the world, but the former Pride FC Middleweight Champion made the decision to take his explosive style to Bellator MMA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Axe Murderer\u201d has fought in some of the most memorable feuds and battles the sport has ever seen. His wars with Quinton \u201cRampage\u201d Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Mirko Cro Cop, Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba, Chuck Liddell, and Michael Bisping are the stuff of legend \u2013 but Silva is far from ready to close the book on his illustrious career.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his Pride FC Middleweight World Championship, Silva\u2019s packed trophy case of accolades includes awards for Fight of the Year (2003, 2004, 2007), KO of the Year (2008), and multiple Fight of the Night awards including one for each of his last three fights, just to name a few. He now looks to continue to provide his award-winning, entertaining fights inside the Bellator cage.<\/p>\n<p>Silva has several options for his first fight with Bellator. Although he has spent the majority of his career at 185-pounds, one of the things that his fans love most about him has been Wanderlei\u2019s willingness to fight the best of the best \u2013 even if it was up two weight classes at heavyweight \u2013 as proven by his heavyweight wars against guys like Mark Hunt, Gilbert Yvel, Kazuyuki Fujita and Cro Cop; Or, his battles against light heavyweights like Ortiz, and his most recent opponent, Brian Stann, who he knocked out in the second frame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bellator MMA has just announced the signing of former UFC and PRIDE veteran Wanderlei Silva. The legendary fighter who announced his retirement after a lifetime ban from MMA after evading a random drug test has come out of retirement since being released by the UFC and a re-hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission. Silva&#8217;s received [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54422,"featured_media":187935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10205],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bellator MMA has just announced the signing of former UFC and PRIDE veteran Wanderlei Silva. The legendary fighter who announced his retirement after a lifetime ban from MMA after evading a random drug test has come out of retirement since being released by the UFC and a re-hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission. Silva&#8217;s received [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-02T18:07:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Wanderlei-Silva.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Russell Ess\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Russell Ess\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Russell Ess\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/38bb728c4095a34ce673601d63c55be3\"},\"headline\":\"BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T18:07:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-02T18:07:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":375,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Wanderlei Silva\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T18:07:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-02T18:07:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/breaking-wanderlei-silva-ends-retirement-signs-bellator-mma\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Wanderlei Silva\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/wanderlei-silva\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"BREAKING: Wanderlei Silva ends retirement and signs with Bellator MMA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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