Thiago Silva, UFC Star, Arrested After Armed Standoff With Police In Florida

Thiago Silva, a professional mixed martial arts fighter and star of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, held off SWAT team cops for almost four hours last night in an armed standoff at his Oakland Park, Florida, home. The 31-year old native of Sao Paolo, Brazil, was finally arrested and charged with aggravated battery and resisting a police officer.

While details on what sparked the incident are not yet clear, the celebrity-stalking news service TMZ reports that Silva believed that his wife was involved in an extramarital sexual relationship with a mixed martial arts instructor who runs a jiu-jitsu training center in Oakland Park.

According to TMZ, in a report that has not yet been confirmed by independent sources, Thiago Silva threatened his wife with a handgun, saying he would shoot everyone inside the packed training center if the instructor, “Pablo,” did not come outside to face him.

When his alleged rival emerged, Thiago Silva threatened to kill both his own wife and the man he suspected of being her lover, TMZ reported.

Thiago Silva, a seven-year UFC veteran who comes from a hardscrabble background in his native Brazil, has frequently been troubled in his professional mixed martial arts career. He has repeatedly encountered problems with post-match drug tests, once serving a one-year suspension doled out by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for submitting urine that had been tampered with to drug inspectors. He also served a six-moth suspension after testing positive for marijuana.

He failed to make the required light-heavyweight weight limit for a major bout in October, fought anyway, but had to quit in the middle of the match due to exhaustion from the rapid weight loss.

Last night’s incident began when Thiago Silva stormed into the Pablo Popovitch Mixed Martial Arts Academy at 777 E. Oakland Park Blvd. reportedly armed, at about 7:45 pm., according to a local news report.

At the time, he made what are currently being called “unspecified threats” and then exited the training center.

His next stop was his own home, a townhouse at 777 East Oakland Park Boulevard where he refused to come out when police showed up to arrest him. A SWAT team was called and a standoff between armed officers and Thiago Silva, the UFC #12-ranked light heavyweight, ensued.

“It’s creepy, creepy. It hits close to home,” one neighbor, Debbie Wallace, told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, as SWAT officers occupied her neighborhood during the Thiago Silva standoff. “To be honest with you, I just watched my 4-year-old grandson doing jiu-jitsu in Plantation today. Now I want to take him out of it.”

No one was hurt in the incident, which ended with the arrest of Thiago Silva around 11:45 pm. he was booked into Broward County Jail early Friday morning and was seen making a middle finger gesture in the direction of news photographers as police led him into the facility.

The UFC issued a statement following the arrest of Thiago Silva, saying that the organization would have no comment until all of the facts were in. But TMZ, again in an unconfirmed report, quoted UFC President Dana White saying of Thiago Silva, “This guy will never fight in the UFC again.”