‘Bigfoot’ Silva camp open to Rico Verhoeven rematch in MMA after TKO loss at GLORY 46

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight title contender Antonio Silva didn’t fare too well in his first-ever professional kickboxing match, losing to current GLORY Kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven in the second round yesterday (Sat., Oct. 14, 2017) at GLORY 46 from inside the Guangzhou Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China.

Of course, it was an outcome many expected — “Bigfoot” included — as Rico is one of the best standup specialists in the game today.

Now that Silva took a leap to step into the kickboxing world, his camp wants Rico to do the same, as Silva’s manager Alex Davis tells MMA Fighting he’d love to see Rico grant Silva a rematch under mixed martial arts (MMA) rules.

"So Antonio went out there and did his first kickboxing fight against the current Glory champ and legend Rico Verhoeven. And not even himself expected to win, but he fought like a lion! Nothing to be ashamed of! And nor was it the manslaughter everyone predicted. So now, Antonio thinks that it is Verhoeven's turn to fight in MMA, and since he took the first challenge, now respectfully invites Rico to do the same in MMA. Bigfoot would be more then happy to welcome him!"

Rico does have some MMA experience, winning his lone fight via knockout in the very first round back in 2015, so it won’t be anything new for the towering striker. That said, Silva has lost his last five in a row and eight of nine overall.

While the fight isn’t exactly out of the realm of possibility, they would still have to find an MMA organization that is willing to sanction the fight.

Anyone think “Bigfoot” would do better against Rico in his own sport?