Bigfoot is a free agent

MMAjunkie reports that Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva and the UFC mutually agreed to not renegotiate a new deal, making the fighter a free agent.

Silva began fighting in 2005, and by 2006, he was 7-0 and had won and defended the Cage Warriors heavyweight championship. He lost to Eric Pele in his sole bout for BodogFight, but then went right on streaking.

Competing in Japan and for ELiteXC, Silva won five more in a row, beating Ricco Rodriguez and Justin Eilers back to back. Then he signed with Strikeforce.

He lost his promotion debut via decision to future UFC heavyweight champion Fabrício Werdum. However, Silva then rebounded with wins over Andrei Arlovski, Mike Kyle, and in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals, Bigfoot TKOed Fedor Emelianenko. He lost in the GP semis to future UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, and then Strikeforce was sold the UFC.

His first fight in the UFC was vs. future heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who knocked him out in the first. Welcome to the UFC.

However, Bigfoot next beat Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem back to back, earning him a rematch with now champion Cain Velasquez. He lost that, but his next fight was arguably the greatest fight in MMA history and is on everyone’s short list of greatest fights at heavyweight.

The majority draw with Mark Hunt was changed to a No Contest after Silva tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. The fighter had received a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Testosterone Replacement Therapy, but through a miscommunication with his MD, let his levels get too high.

While TUEs for TRT have been ended in mixed martial arts, there are a tiny number of athletes worldwide that legitimately need them. In 2014, Silva’s manager Alex Davis explained that Bigfoot’s case is a medical necessity.

This is one of the guys that really have authentic technical reasons to be on TRT, said Davis. He has acromegaly. His pituitary gland overproduces GH (growth hormone) and that unbalances all his other hormones.

When I started managing him, he was actually lactating. He has extreme low testosterone. He has extremely low testosterone, so he has a real reason to be on TRT.

Never the less, TRT ended, and Silva has been at a marked disadvantage since, going just 1-5. All five losses were via T/KO and four were in the first round.

Now that Silva and the UFC have amicably parted ways, it is likely that Bigfoot, now 37, ends up in Japan where to date he has never lost. Do not be surprised to find a rematch with Fedor in RIZIN in the next 12 months.