Thor Silva has taken the first step to following in his father’s legendary footsteps.
Silva, the 19-year-old son of MMA icon Wanderlei Silva, won his amateur MMA debut on Sunday at Fight Music Show 2, which took place at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.
With his father cageside in his corner, Silva came out aggressive early, dragging opponent Gabriel Bonfim down to the canvas with a single-leg takedown, then unleashing a flurry of punches from mount and back mount to score a first-round TKO finish at the 3:32 mark of Round 1. You can see video of Silva’s impressive amateur MMA debut.
This was not Silva’s first encounter with live combat. The teenager picked up a 30-second TKO victory in his Muay Thai debut in 2019 and has competed in boxing as well.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Silva said that there was “a bit” pressure associated with being the son and grandson of MMA legends. However, he acknowledged that his father has more trouble with it than he does.
“He gets more nervous than I,” Thor said of Wanderlei with a laugh. “We usually brought something to eat before the events and he always got too nervous and ate the whole thing. When I am about to fight I do not get nervous. I keep calm and relax, think about the next step, and I never feel anxious. It doesn’t add too much pressure
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