Wanderlei Silva mowed down by driver in Brazil — ‘I could have died’

Former UFC and PRIDE FC middleweight smashing machine, Wanderlei Silva, was recently hospitalized after getting struck by a car in Brazil. This marks the second time “The Axe Murderer” has been mowed down while riding his bicycle, which begs the question, why not stick to automobiles?

Anyone who’s suffered through traffic in Curitiba will know the answer.

“I could even have died if I wasn’t wearing a helmet,” Silva told Tribuna (helpfully transcribed by MMA Fighting). “People have to be more careful in traffic. It’s hard to ride bikes in Curitiba.”

Silva suffered a fractured foot in the accident.

We haven’t seen much of “The Axe Murderer” in recent years. The 43 year-old Brazilian dropped back-to-back fights under the Bellator banner back in 2018, then faced scrutiny from the combat sports community after revealing symptoms of CTE (more on that here).

A timeline for Silva’s foot recovery has not been established.