Man who knocked out Wanderlei Silva in post-fight brawl explains his actions

Wanderlei Silva was brutally knocked out following a disqualification loss this past weekend, and the attacker has explained his actions.

Silva was disqualified in his Spaten Fight Night 2 main event against Acelino Freitas. “The Axe Murderer” headbutted Freitas, which enraged his opponent’s corner. A brawl took place once the fight was over and Silva was knocked out cold by a man who ended up being Freitas’ son, Rafael.

During an interview with Globo, Rafael explained why he attacked Silva after the boxing match (via MMAFighting).

“When I realized a brawl had started, initiated by Wanderlei’s team, his son, his coach Andre Dida and Werdum,” Freitas said. “When I saw all of them assaulting my father and my brothers, I got in legitimate defense. In the heat of the moment, I only thought about defending my family.”

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In a social media post, Silva scolded Rafael for his actions.

“‘Popo’s’ team entered the ring after the result and came at us, pointing fingers and cursing, like they’ve been doing all week,” Wanderlei Silva said on a different video. “At any moment I assaulted anybody. I was there holding people and then got hit in the back of the head, and then punched in the eye. I was cowardly assaulted. As you can see, my eye is still bleeding and I have a lot of headache.”

Claudio Dalledone, Silva’s lawyer, informed Combate that his client plans to sue Rafael. Dalledone went as far as to compare Rafael’s attack to “attempted murder.”

In a lengthy post on his Instagram account, Acelino said a voice message posted by Silva’s teammate Fabricio Werdum was manipulated. Acelino believes Werdum altered the voice clip to make it appear that the post-fight brawl was premeditated. Acelino posted a clip of the melee showing that he was also attacked by a member of Silva’s camp.