With his face looking noticeably different, UFC star Wanderlei Silva has posted a video on his official YouTube channel explaining that he went through multiple facial surgeries to repair injuries he has suffered in his long mixed martial arts career.
Silva said he decided to address his fans directly because there had been photos posted online showing him looking different.
"There was a lot of speculation about my surgery," Silva said. "People are noticing my eyes."
Silva then detailed the way the doctors removed scar tissue and changed the shape of his face in an effort to keep him from suffering cuts in future fights.
"Here I scraped the eye's bones," Silva said. "I've had more than 200 stitches, only in the area of the eyes. So the doctor scraped my skull, so that will go down. The goal is for me not to get cut so easily in my next fight. Because before I was receiving big cuts only from scratches. I was always having to get 7, 10, 15 stitches and this was hurting my performance."
Silva also discussed another surgery to repair his nose.
"I broke my nose in my second fight against Mirko Cro Cop (in 2006)," Silva said. "I broke it here on the side, and that started to bend my nose, and since then I broke it again in other fights. When the doctor opened it, she even called her assistant to show how ugly it was. So I fixed my nose, now I'm sleeping better, snoring less. I was suffering from sleep apnea, waking up 4, 5 times a night."
Silva said his next fight will be at 185 pounds, and that he doesn't just look different, but he also feels different. He sounds like he's ready to make one more run at a championship belt.
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