The shocking, mysterious ‘cover-up’ surrounding a single MMA star who spent six weeks in a London hospital: RIATH AL-SAMARRAI on the secrets of a dangerous sport

This is a story about secrets and those who keep them. Specifically, it’s about Daiane Silva, a Brazilian mixed martial artist who is not famous, and those who would seemingly have preferred it never been known that she has spent the last six weeks in a hospital bed in London has spent.

The good news is that she has finally regained consciousness, but that shouldn’t obscure the question that arises from such a stressful situation: Shouldn’t a dangerous sport that has grown so quickly take its responsibilities much more seriously?

Before we get there, let’s look back at the beginning of a chain of terrible events that unfolded in this country that was kept quiet until a social media post sneaked over the wall last weekend. You probably still haven’t heard much about it, and after researching the matter, it doesn’t seem like an accident to me.

You see, Silva, a 29-year-old with a 3-0 record, was drafted on short notice to appear on a Bellator card on September 14th at Wembley Arena.

Bellator, an American promotion, is not as well-known as the UFC, but they are major players in cage fighting, and their acquisition last year by the Professional Fighters League, which describes itself as the “fastest-growing sports league in the world,” meant that she belonged to Silva big break. As a single mother with the ring name “Leidy Dai,” it was the kind of opportunity that shapes life.

The 29-year-old was given the chance to come in and fight on a Bellator card at short notice

But in order to move forward, she first had to beat herself down.

And that’s a key point here – Silva’s three professional contests have all been in the 155-pound lightweight class. Her journey took a horrific turn to the intensive care unit when she was admitted about two weeks before fight night to fill a spot as a featherweight, where the weight limit is 10 pounds less.

Now, weight loss in martial arts is nothing new and the extreme dangers that come with it are nothing new either. In the case of Silva and many others, the complication went even further.

According to reporting by a news outlet from her home state of Parana, UmDois Esportes, which was among the few that picked up this story, Silva weighed about 167 pounds when she accepted the fight. In other words, she barely had two weeks to lose 22 pounds. Silva knew she was struggling with this.

In an interview a few days before her weigh-in on September 13th, she said something that seems much sadder today. “It’s going to hurt,” Silva told the website MMA Fighting, and the reporter noticed she was laughing. “For me it’s complicated, but that’s the war. “We’ll get there okay.”

She didn’t do that. In fact, she didn’t even make it onto the scales – on the morning of the weigh-in she collapsed and was taken by ambulance from her hotel, the Hilton opposite Wembley Arena, to Northwick Park Hospital, three miles away. Apparently her dehydration was so severe that she suffered kidney failure and fell into a coma.

Promoter Bellator made almost no mention of what happened to Silva, only providing a brief post canceling their fight

None of this was publicly known until last weekend, more than a month later, when a social media post from Nação Cyborg Fights, the Brazilian organization promoting Silva’s 2021 debut, indicated that she was in one in serious condition. That post was then deleted, but the message was out.

If you scan the social media accounts of Bellator and the PFL, with more than 6.5 million followers combined, you’ll see almost no mention of what happened. The exception was a post in the Bellator feeds on the day of the weigh-in: “Eman Almudhaf vs. Daiane Da Silva is not on the card. Card continues with nine fights.”

As for the PFL, there was nothing on September 13th. Zilch. But the next day they actually had a video of Jake Paul watching footage of a fight in which a fighter was choked so badly that a jet of blood spurted from his eyebrow – damage sells, but only the right kind of damage , it seems.

The first time I heard about Silva’s case was last Sunday afternoon, when an email arrived from one of combat sports’ most respected figures. The sender requested anonymity, but the message asked, “Why wasn’t this story told and what is the cover-up?”

Last week it felt like a fair question when Silva’s manager, Brazil-based Alex Davis, belatedly issued a statement confirming that she had “suffered an accident due to dehydration” and his hopes for one expressed complete recovery. He hasn’t responded to my messages.

The MMA star was taken to Northwick Park Hospital, just three miles from Wembley – where she was due to fight in September

Hopefully, now that the cat is out of the bag, it can be determined whether her claims are true or false. But what about the organizations that monitored these shows?

I sent a long list of questions to Bellator and the PFL this week. One of them was to find out whether the claim that the officers were ordered not to talk about what happened was true. Another of my inquiries revolved around whether Silva had undergone a formal weight check in the days and weeks before she hit the scales – which is the measure that responsible organizations use to guard against last-minute weight crashes protect, which we rarely talk about, but which we observe are the root of many tragedies.

After hunting a few times, I received a 35-word response from a PFL spokesperson: “We are aware of Daiane Da Silva’s current health condition and have been monitoring the situation since she canceled her fight in London.” PFL is in regular contact with her team and is supporting her recovery.”

In short, they have distorted what we really need to know. And PFL co-owner, American venture capitalist Donn Davis, offered neither in his only appearance since the Silva news broke. The silence was due to the need to protect her “privacy,” he said, adding: “We have done everything possible to support her recovery.”

The latter may be true, but what about the control weights that could have mitigated the risk from the start? They are an important missing piece of information.

In boxing this week, a source explained the British Boxing Board of Control’s protocol requiring these checks during a training camp. If a fighter exceeds his limit by more than three percent three days before the weigh-in, the fight may be canceled. But were there any safety nets under Silva?

Donn Davis, co-owner of the PFL, emphasized that they remained silent to protect them

But much of Silva’s situation remains shrouded in mystery, proving that more clarity is needed about the darker side of combat sports

That’s what I asked Michael Mazzulli, director of the Mohegan Department of Athletic Regulation, who came here from Connecticut to oversee the Bellator event. He wasn’t sure if there was a control weight, so it remains a mystery.

What matters is what happens next. In principle, this applies above all to the full recovery of the fighter, who is recovering at Northwick Park Hospital. But Silva’s traumas also prove that clarity is necessary. To the details. To lift the veil.

There is a lawyer in the US who specializes in martial arts, Erik Magraken, and he has seen this film before. Over the past 10 years, he has compiled a list of more than 100 serious injuries and deaths that have occurred in MMA due to extreme weight cuts, and he knows the same problem is also prevalent in boxing because fighters regularly risk it keep it worthwhile.

He told me: “A terrible situation like this actually provides a teaching moment. “If they want to get something good out of it, it would be through transparency about what happened and why – people could learn from that.”

It feels more like an insertion of logic into a conversation that too few in martial arts are willing to do.

Infantino’s Club World Cup Con

FIFA’s moron Gianni Infantino has further undermined his vision of a Club World Cup by tinkering with the criteria to guarantee Inter Miami’s entry. This of course means Lionel Messi.

Gianni Infantino (right) has found a way to give Lionel Messi a starring role at next summer’s revamped FIFA Club World Cup

Messi may be considered the greatest of all time, but parading him like a goat to save irrelevant competition shows how little faith even Infantino has in his own product.

Maddison’s true nature is revealed

It was in 2018 when Spurs turned down the chance to sign James Maddison because he had an image problem. There is a danger that he is wrong, it was thought.

If anything reflects the changing times, it is Maddison’s decision to let Richarlison take Tottenham’s penalty against AZ Alkmaar in midweek. The Brazilian simply needed it more.

Those who know Maddison always said the labels were unfair, but it’s nice to see the word getting out.