Wrestle World - Capoeira DNA: Top prospect Radley da Silva eager to turn heads in UFC

Radley Da Silva almost stepped away before he even really got going.

The son of Andre da Silva, a well-known capoeira practitioner and pro MMA fighter, da Silva (7-1) has always had combat sports in his blood. But he never really viewed it as a viable career path.

So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and fights became even more difficult to find, da Silva was on the verge of hanging up the gloves with a 2-1 record.

“For so many years, I was not fighting,” da Silva recently told MMA Junkie. “I attribute that a lot to trying to force the issue. I’ve been training my whole entire life and I tried everything to get in there and stay active and do all that. But for whatever reason, life wasn’t letting that happen. But I just kind of let go of trying to force the issue and trying to just go with the flow of it.”

And boy does da Silva “flow.”

With capoeira in his DNA, da Silva has made it a mission to dispel misconceptions about the striking art. Not only is it pretty to watch, da Silva wants to show you just how effective it can be.

Take a peek at how his career has gone since he returned from hiatus in October 2023 and you’ll get a feel for what he’s selling. He’s won five fights since his return (and six in a row overall), captured Battlefield Fight League (BFL) gold and gone viral for an insane spinning wheel kick knockout. Shoutout, capoeira.

“Capoeira has given me everything in my life,” da Silva said. “If it wasn’t for capoeira, my whole family would be stuck in Brazil. We wouldn’t have the awesome life we do have here in Canada. I was raised here since I was five. I have all that to thank because capoeira brought us here to Canada. It’s always meant a lot because people sometimes dismiss the effectiveness of it in the cage and all that stuff, and as a martial art. They call it a dance and all that stuff. It’s been everything. One of the main points of our group is to prove that it’s a viable martial art in the cage and against any other martial art. That’s been something that was in-rooted in my brain since I was a kid. We got one of the best martial arts and one of the best bases for MMA and I just wanted to prove that since I was a kid.”

Oh my GOD. Spinning heel kick KO by Radley Da Silva at BFL #BFL81 pic.twitter.com/XG3uIVMfmG

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 7, 2024

What better and bigger stage for da Silva to show the world what capoeira has to offer than the UFC. That’s the main goal at the moment, though da Silva has gotten feedback that he still needs another fight or two despite his recent success.

Regardless, da Silva thinks he has what it takes to not only reach the biggest organization in MMA, but also thrive there.

“I want UFC,” da Silva said. “It’s been a dream for me. I’ve watched Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar live with my dad on TV. I didn’t even think it was a career. I just thought it was just something I was going to do. Growing up watching… my dad, represent capoeira in MMA, I just thought it was something I was going to do. I never thought it could be a career. I always wanted to fight in the UFC, not even for money. Just because I wanted to represent capoeira at the highest level. That’s a dream of mine that I’d want to fulfill.”