Wanderlei Silva loses bid to join Brazilian congress

Wanderlei Silva is now 0-for-2 in attempts to earn a seat in the Brazilian congress after coming up short at the 2022 elections in Brazil on Sunday.

The former PRIDE champion, who recently announced his retirement from MMA, affiliated to the Progressive Party (PP), which sides with Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, and received 13,907 votes at the elections.

Silva, who received 154 more votes compared to his 2018 campaign with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) party, would need over 61,500 votes to earn a seat at the congress in his home state of Paraná.

During his political campaign, Silva described himself as a “a patriot who always [fights] for freedom,” vowing to “bring dignity to our sport and work so it becomes a strong instrument for social inclusion.”

With a record of 35-14-1 and 1 no-contest as a professional MMA fighter under the UFC, PRIDE and Bellator banners, as well as other MMA promotions, Silva left the door open to compete in boxing in the future.