Antonio Silva Wants Rematch With Rico Verhoeven, But MMA Fight This Time Around

Former UFC fighter Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva made his Glory kickboxing debut at Glory 46 and suffered a second round TKO loss to Rico Verhoeven.

Bigfoot wants a second shot at Verhoeven, but this time he wants the fight to come under MMA rules.

"So Antonio went out there and did his first kickboxing fight against the current Glory champ and legend Rico Verhoeven. And not even himself expected to win, but he fought like a lion! Nothing to be ashamed of! And nor was it the manslaughter everyone predicted. So now, Antonio thinks that it is Verhoeven's turn to fight in MMA, and since he took the first challenge, now respectfully invites Rico to do the same in MMA. Bigfoot would be more then happy to welcome him!,” Silva’s manager in Alex Davis stated to MMA Fighting.

Silva has had a rough few years in MMA, winning just one of his last ten fights since May of 2013.

Even though the bout against Verhoeven was his pro kickboxing debut, the Brazilian offers no excuses for his loss.

The fighter issued his statement through Instagram:

 

No excuses… this was my first kickboxing fight, I knew the risks of fighting against @ricoverhoeven because he is the champion of @glorykickboxing and he has more than 61 fights in he’s carrier. It was a honor the be in the ring with him. I hope to have more opportunities to fight in Glory events again…. ——– Sem desculpas nessa hora pois essa foi minha primeira luta de kickboxing, eu sabia de todos os riscos e desafios q eu teria pela frente pois aceitei lutar com o campeão do evento onde ele tem mais de 60 lutas de kickboxing, foi uma grande experiência e um enorme prazer dividir o ringue com uma pessoa como o Rico, um cara super respeitador mesmo sendo o campeão e lutando com um lutador que nunca lutou em sua área…. Obrigado Rico q Deus te abençoe e espero voltar a lutar aqui no Glory novamente. #glorykickboxing #china #rkt #thugkickboxing #brasilia

A post shared by Antonio Silva (@bigfootsilva) on Oct 14, 2017 at 7:12am PDT

Verhoeven has yet to respond to the challenge from Silva, but he did win his lone professional MMA fight in 2015.