Wanderlei Silva Hit By Car During Bike Ride

Former PRIDE FC World Middleweight Champion and winner of a PRIDE Grand Prix, Wanderlei Silva, is currently recovering from some injuries after being hit by a car while riding his bike in Curitiba, Brazil on June 4th 2020. The news comes after the legendary MMA fighter known for his brutal clinchwork and devastating knees retired with a 35-14 record after a short stint with Bellator back in 2018.

He gave an interview with Brazilian news outlet, Tribuna, where Silva mentioned that wearing a helmet at the time of the accident made a huge difference in the severity of the injuries that he received; “If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet, I might have died” said Silva. Regardless, he still suffered some injuries including a fractured foot and some pretty gruesome abrasions on his face.

Surprisingly, this is actually the second time that Wanderlei Silva has been hit by a vehicle as he was the victim of a hit and run back in May 2016 when he was hit as he was leaving his gym. He also gave some useful advice to anyone in a similar situation; “People have to be more careful in traffic. It’s hard to ride a bike in Curitiba.”

In this most recent instance, at least the driver of the vehicle did not leave the scene. He apparently stopped to check on Silva and make sure he was okay, as did several members of the Brazilian public who witnessed the accident. As a result, Silva even went so far as to describe the driver as a “good person” despite the accident.

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Alex Lindsey

Alex Lindsey is the managing editor here at Grappling Insider. Originally starting training in MMA in 2008, injuries and university slowed progress until he decided to put on a gi for the first time back in 2015.

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