Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva heading to Russia to face undefeated prospect

Former EliteXC heavyweight champion and 11-time UFC veteran Antonio Silva is heading to Russia.

MMAjunkie today confirmed with Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, that “Bigfoot” will compete in the main event of an upcoming Titov Boxing Promotion event on Nov. 18 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Silva (19-10-1) will take on Russian Ivan Shtyrkov (4-0).

“We are very excited for the new opportunity,” Davis said. “‘Bigfoot’ was already in the gym today, preparing for the fight against Shtyrkov.

“Russia has become a big hub of the MMA world, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

Silva has just one victory in his past eight fights – a second-round TKO of the now-retired Soa Palelei at UFC 190 in August 2015. As MMAjunkie previously reported, Silva and the UFC parted ways last week.

Silva’s lone victory in nearly four years was crammed between a string of ugly losses. On top of a recent stoppage loss to Roy Nelson in his native Brazil, Silva has also succumbed to knockouts at the hands of Stefan Struve, Mark Hunt, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski and Cain Velasquez.

Still, the 37-year-old is optimistic about what lies on the horizon.

“I’m very excited about the upcoming fight against Shtyrkov,” Silva said. “I have made many fans in Japan, Brazil and the U.S., and I will make amazing fans in Russia. Thank you to all my fans, RCC Boxing Promotions from Russia and to Alex Davis and Narcis Mujkic, who made this fight happen.”

Shtyrkov is undefeated through his first four professional MMA contests, all of which ended via first-round stoppage. Among those was a dubious victory earlier this year over longtime veteran Jeff Monson.