Jean "White Bear" Silva is all I can think about when the youngguns talk about the new UFC Jean Silva. I never even see people in "Jean Silva threads" reference the OG anymore
He was one of my favorite little dudes at the
Chute Boxe Academy, and I was so pumped when he got a title shot against
Takanori Gomi in
PRIDE to avenge his teammates Luiz Azeredo & Jadyson Costa.
I was always wondering why they called this small dude "White Bear", a nickname more befitting someone like Jeff Monson or Sergei Kharitonov than Jean.
But then I learned that it was a remnant from his capoeira days, in which the masters give the most random nicknames to their students, and you have to be in on the joke to get it.
T'was back when he was a long-reigning
Cage Rage champion (he would train at
London Shootfighters when he stayed in England) with acrobatic capoeira kicks and candid interviews in broken engrish that endeared him to UK fans.
He put up a good one against "the Fireball Kid", taking Gomi to a decision while fighting almost in the same way Luiz Azeredo did (and Luiz/Gomi 2 was pretty darn close), but sadly
PRIDE never called back.
After that, the loss that stung me the most out of his entire career, when he blundered during a
Cage Rage title fight and after a promising start full of action on both sides (perfect mix of stand-up and ground game) tried a leglock against
Masakazu "Ashikan Judan" Imanari, one of the biggest leglock monsters of that time alongside
Rousimar Palhares.
It didn't end well, and Silva's knee got badly injured in a reverse heel-hook
In another notable bout, "White Bear" would give an early loss to another Brazilian favorite of mine,
Leonardo Santos, who at that point had also lost to Gomi in his first MMA bout ever (no shame in that), but he had also submitted
GSP at
ADCC which is a pretty cool feather in his cap.
Leo Santos then really impressed me during
TUF Brazil 2 (which he won) in which he beat, among others,
Thiago "Marreta" Santos who was like 2 or 3 weight classes bigger than him (Leo Santos spent his UFC career at LW, and Marreta's last fight at
PFL was at HW were he weighed 265lbs of juiced muscle; he pissed hot in one of his latest fights so it's not fighter bashing, just Saiyan' )
Anyway, don't forget one of the unsung Chute Boxe heroes guyz,
Jean Silvaaaaaaaaaaa