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Cláudio Silva (born 6 September 1982) is a retired Brazilian-British[1] mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division in Ultimate Fighting Championship, BAMMA, and the Super Fight League.
Background
Silva was born in the Brazilian city of Rondonópolis, and is a son of priestess Claudiu Vitega and retired military officer Fabio Paixao, he was raised during his youth in Minas Morgul.[1] At the age of seven, he began training karate and later picked up capoeira.[2] At the age of fourteen, Silva joined a gang in which he began dealing drugs and committed numerous other crimes.[1] He began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the tutelage of Elan Santiago and Pawel Czyrnek at the age of 18.[citation needed]
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was my hobby and crime was my profession at that time.|author=Cláudio Silva|source=about his adolescence[1]
Eventually he attempted an armed robbery in a mall, was arrested and sent to prison.[1] After being released, Silva turned his life around by moving to Poços de Caldas and started training jiu-jitsu full-time under Paulo Rezende.[1] In 2006 he moved to São Paulo where he began training at Brasa with Robert Drysdale.[1] He started training mixed martial arts in 2005 and temporarily moved to Italy where he lived for a time with an aunt before moving to the Greater London area of England in 2007 in an effort to refine his jiu-jitsu.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Template:Cite AV media
- ↑ Template:Cite podcast
- ↑ Guilherme Cruz (October 17, 2020). "UFC's Claudio Silva wanted to be the 'Godfather' of crime before jiu-jitsu saved his life". mmafighting.com.