UFC Hall of Famer Wanderlei Silva was hospitalised after being knocked out in a post-fight brawl at the weekend, after he was disqualified for headbutting an opponent.

Silva, who became an icon of mixed martial arts with stints in Pride and the UFC before fighting in Bellator, faced Acelino Freitas in a boxing match in Sao Paulo on Saturday.

The bout was Silva’s first in seven years and ended unceremoniously when the 49-year-old was disqualified for repeated headbutts, but what followed was even more chaotic.

Upon the fight being thrown out, a brawl erupted in the ring, with multiple figures throwing punches and kicks. One punch, alleged to have been thrown by Freitas’s son Rafael, knocked out Silva.

Silva later shared an Instagram post, in which his face was severely damaged with one eye almost swollen shut. Former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum, who coached Silva during the bout, claimed that Silva had been hospitalised.

Silva wrote: “Yesterday in my fight against Popo [Freitas] I received a few warnings during the fight and in the 4th round I ended up getting disqualified. There was widespread confusion in the ring afterwards.

“At that moment, while I was just trying to protect my son and calm the situation, I was cowardly attacked, leading me to need medical attention. I want to reassure everyone: I'm fine and still being monitored.”

This angle of Wanderlei Silva getting knocked out in a post-fight brawl

Oh my goodness… pic.twitter.com/0ZEAXt05qM

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 28, 2025

Freitas, 50, released his own statement on Instagram, criticising Werdum. He said: “When the fight ended, the referee disqualified Wanderlei for the three headbutts he hit me [with], and his coach went after me and punched me, he really hurt me.”

“Wanderlei, the fight was between you and me and had nothing to do with the team. If you headbutted me, cool, I don’t care. But, unfortunately, Werdum cowardly entered the ring with your son, went all over everybody. And I saw that someone also punched you.

“We tried delivering you a perfect [show] and I end up beat by his coach out of nowhere, man,” he continued, although footage shows that Silva was knocked out before Werdum got close to Freitas. “I’m telling you, we had no fault. Cowardly, it was his team.”

Werdum said in his own Instagram post: “The images don’t lie. Everybody saw what happened. We entered the ring when it was all over and Wanderlei was disqualified, and a lot of people entered from Popo’s side.

“I think it was 20 of them, and only me, Wanderlei, Thor [Silva’s son] and Dida. And we were reacting to their attacks, you know? They started screaming and coming at us, and there were four of us.

“And it was so evil for that guy to punch Wanderlei. He punched the back of the head of Wanderlei. I don’t know if it landed clean, but it could have been something very serious. Wanderlei is here in the hospital now, getting stitched up. It broke Wanderlei’s nose.”

MMA Mixed Martial Arts News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos