UFC's Thiago Silva arrested after standoff with police

Thiago Silva appeared in a Broward County courtroom on Friday morning where Judge John Hurley ruled on the proceedings and after hearing arguments from both the state and the defense opted to reduce the charges against the fighter to two counts of felony aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest without violence.

Silva allegedly made several threats to his wife that precipitated Thursday's events including at one point sticking a gun in her mouth and also sending a text message to her saying 'you're going to die'. The situation was surrounding his wife's relationship with a jiu-jitsu instructor named Pablo Popovitch, who was also eventually threatened in the matter.

The judge ordered due to the severe threat of violence against his wife and Popovitch as well as the risk that Silva could jump bail and flee to Brazil where he is a citizen and may not be able to be extradited back to the United States that he be held without bond pending trial.  Silva was subsequently released from the UFC after the situation unfolded on Friday morning.

2/6/14

Thiago Silva, the veteran UFC light heavyweight fighter, is in custody tonight after an alleged standoff with the Broward County Sheriff's Department SWAT team in Oakland Park, Fla.

Silva's name turned up in an arrest records search on the Broward County Sheriff's website early Friday morning.

The 31-year-old Brazilian faces multiple charges, including two counts of attempted felony murder, one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and one count of resisting officer without violence to his or her person. Police have not released an official statement.

Zuffa, owner of the UFC, has released the following statement:

"This evening, we were made aware of a situation involving Thiago Silva. We are in the process of gathering the facts and have no further comment at this time."

According to several reports, an armed suspect went into a jiu-jitsu school at 777 E. Oakland Park Blvd., which belongs to famed Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor Pablo Popovitch and allegedly began threatening people at the school.

No one was injured at the school and after the suspect left, the authorities were contacted, according to reports.

The situation began at around 7:45 p.m. local time in Florida when police were called to the scene.

From there the armed assailant went back to his home and barricaded himself inside. The house at 2041 Coral Heights Court was later identified as being owned by Silva as SWAT team members surrounded the home while trying to negotiate his surrender.

At 11:15 p.m., authorities confirmed that the suspect was in custody and the standoff had ended.

According to anonymous sources speaking to FOX Sports on Thursday, the altercation began because of a domestic dispute between Silva and his wife. Silva then proceeded to the jiu-jitsu school where he made the threats before leaving and ending up back at his home where police arrived shortly thereafter.

Silva had been scheduled to face Ovince St-Preux at UFC 171 in Dallas in March. The Brazilian lives and trains in Florida where he works with the Blackzilian MMA team based out of that area.



http://msn.foxsports.com/ufc/story/report-ufc-light-heavyweight-thiago-silva-arrested-after-standoff-with-police-developing-020614