(65 votes, average: 3.74 out of 5)
Loading...Free training with Wanderlei Silva? Come and join Wanderlei Silva’s new MMA fight team and MMA gym. The axe murderer has started his own gym in Las Vegas, Nevada and has signed on MMA fighter, Demian Maia, to be part of the Wand Fight Team. Wanderlei Silva’s new training center is Las Vegas, the Wand Fight Team is opening it’s doors. On this video watch Wanderlei introducing his gym, the only gym with high altitude training room and official size octagon. Wanderlei will be teaching classes in all martial arts together with a team of world class instructors. Visit www.wandfightteam.com for more info. Train with the best. Watch Wanderlei Silva’s promo video for his new MMA gym and fight team:
Here’s some history about the Wanderlei Silva:
Wanderlei Cesar Silva (vahn-der-lay) was born July 3, 1976, in Curitiba, Brazil, the largest city in southern Brazil. He grew up in a tight-knit family, the middle child between an older brother and younger sister. His parents ran a bar where Silva started working as a teenager. Though he was an avid reader with high IQ tests scores, working for the family business was one of the few options Silva had since attending university was a luxury reserved for Brazil’s wealthiest.
At the age of 13, Silva began studying marital arts, with the goal of transforming lingering baby fat into lean muscle. In his late teens, he entered his first amateur fight competition and proved his natural talent to remain composed and focused and to psyche out his opponents.
By age 18, he’d racked up numerous wins in his age category and was the fighter to watch. His aggressive style resembled that of a street fighter but was technically refined from six years of Muay Thai kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Still, Silva took off his fighting gloves, put down his bar rag and enlisted in the military.
In the 17 months he served, the regimented military lifestyle taught Silva the discipline necessary for training and competing, which would one day launch his career as a professional athlete. On November 1, 1996, the 20-year-old Silva entered and won his first professional mixed martial arts (MMA) match—the Brazilian ValeTudo Fighting (BVF) organization’s BVF 6—knocking out his final opponent in 3:35From 1997 to 1999, Silva stepped into the ring 11 times, nine of them wins. Of his two losses, one of them, an International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC) event against Arthur Marian in 1997, is still touted as one of the most brutal in IVC event history, as Silva persevered for 13:10, despite a severe cut to his eyelid..
On September 12, 1999, the PRIDE Fighting Championships hosted Silva’s inaugural match with their organization. That initial victory would lead to 18 consecutive wins over the next five years, as well as one draw and one no contest, resulting in a 20-fight unbeaten record for Silva. Highlights of that time period include Silva taking the title of PRIDE Middle weight include Silva taking the title of PRIDE Middleweight Champion (205 pounds) in 2001. Two years later, he earned his black belt in jujitsu and won the title of PRIDE Tournament Champion (205 pounds).
Along with his wins, Silva’s international notoriety was mounting. An MMA fan favorite, in Brazil and Japan, Silva was and still is easily recognized on the streets of Brazil and Japan often swarmed by fans. While he’s considered one of the most fearsome fighters because of his aggressive style, Silva’s greatest strength is quickly reading opponents and responding accordingly, to gain the upper hand. His signature method for taking down his opponents includes doing looping punches—which vary from the straight-punch style of most MMA fighters— and using his knees to immobilize the opponent in the Muay Thai clinch.
He’s earned the nicknames the Axe Murderer and Cachorro Louco (Portuguese for Crazy Dog) because of his aggressive fighting style. Yet outside the octagon, Silva is a mild-mannered family man whose intense drive manifests equally in the business realm. He has sharp business acumen, and his current ventures include the licensing of Wand Clothing (an active men’s and women’s apparel line featuring designs based on the fighter’s signature tattoo on the nape of his neck) and a 10,000-square-foot training academy opening in December 2008 in Las Vegas.
In 2007, after a six-year stint fighting in Japan, Silva signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), based in Las Vegas. Enthralled and inspired by the energy of American UFC fans, Silva and his trainer, Rafael Alejarra, moved to the Las Vegas area, as did Silva’s wife, Tea, 35, and their son Thor, 5. The family resides in Henderson, Nevada.
In late December 2008, Silva will open the doors of a 10,000-square-foot MMA training academy to the public, located at 4631 Dean Martin Drive in Las Vegas. Silva’s wife is managing the design and construction of the fitness facility, as well as managing the Wand clothing brand. The facility will be a cutting-edge, full-service training center catering to both professional fighters and fitness enthusiasts, with a range of classes for adults and children and workshops conducted by top MMA fighters, including Silva.
In September 2008, Silva signed an endorsement contract with XYIENCE, a Las Vegas–based energy drink company. In this new role, he will become the face of the beverage company in national marketing and advertising efforts and points of purchase in over 10,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.
In a widely anticipated match, Silva is slated to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson on December 27, 2008, at the MGM in Las Vegas.
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Very nice, clean, and top-of-the-line facility. Top Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coaches, and unlike Xtreme Couture; Wanderlei is there pretty much everyday teaching his small group of pros. I, myself am considering training their for MMA however I don’t know what they do about amateur fighters like myself.