Gabriel Silva, son of UFC legend Anderson Silva, returns to the boxing ring Saturday to challenge Anthony Taylor for the Misfits light heavyweight title at X Series 17 in Dublin, Ireland, and dreams of the day he will hold world titles as well.
Silva has been victorious in three boxing matches so far between both professional and exhibition contests, and wants to “expand” his father’s name to a different sport after “The Spider’s” historic success in mixed martial arts.
“That’s my final goal, to be world champion [in boxing],” Silva told MMA Fighting. “I’ve trained with world champions before, I’ve tested myself against world champions, and I know I have what it takes to be a world champion one day. That’s the final goal, to fight for world titles in this sport and bring our name to the sport of boxing and not only in MMA, to kind of expand it to other horizons.”
Silva grew up watching his father defend the UFC middleweight title — and was in the arena for many of his wins — but doesn’t plan on starting a career in mixed martial arts.
“Growing up with my father and my family, I’ve always had this martial arts mindset and knew a bit of everything,” Silva said. “I’ve fought kickboxing and Muay Thai, I plan on competing in jiu-jitsu at some point, and maybe fight MMA as well, but not like starting a career. Just for the experience, really. I’ve trained MMA and followed many of my father’s camps, and legends like [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira] ‘Minotauro’. I think it would be kind of stupid not to be part of this world as well. I think it’s really interesting, but my focus is on boxing.”
Silva said sharing the ring once with WBO and IBF middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0) and WBO Global super welterweight champion Slawa Spomer (19-0) at Brickhouse Boxing Club has given him the confidence to pursue gold.
“[Alimkhanuly] is a tough guy, very skilled, and it was good training,” Silva said. “We did six tough rounds, so it was great experience. I’ve also sparred with champions from Germany as well, Slawa Spomer, who’s also very tough. We did good sparring at Brickhouse in North Hollywood. I have great training at the gym, very high-level athletes, so you can get experience from all of them.”
Silva revealed that Misfits considered holding an event in Brazil earlier this year and tried to add “The Spider” to the card as well, but it didn’t come to fruition. The UFC veteran ended up competing in an exhibition match against Chael Sonnen at Spaten Fight Night in June, and Kalyl Silva was featured on the card. Gabriel was approached with an offer to be on the card, but the deal wasn’t closed.
Silva leaves the door open to possibly share a card with his father one day, and has one familiar name in mind his dream match for “The Spider” in boxing.
“Fighting is air for my father, he can’t live without it,” Silva said. “There are several opponents, but the one I personally would like to see is Roy Jones Jr. They are both super technical and it would be super cool to watch despite the age. I think it would be very interesting. That’s a fight [Anderson] has asked for so long and it never happened.”
For now, the 27-year-old Silva focuses on clinching his first title belt in the world of boxing live on DAZN PPV, and respects Taylor as an opponent. The five-fight Bellator veteran, who once faced Tommy Fury in boxing, is undertaking a quick turnaround after defending his Misfits belt earlier this month with a second-round stoppage of Samuel Ericsson.
“He has kind of adjusted a few things in his game,” Silva said. “He was doing more clinch work before, and ended up finishing the guy. He has changed a bit, coming more aggressive, but we’re ready for this. I have the best coach, I’m training at the best gym, so we’re ready for whatever comes.”
