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UFC releases Thiago Silva again, citing 'new information' in dropped attempted murder case

Jason Silva / USA Today Sports

Just two weeks after reinstating light heavyweight fighter Thiago Silva, the UFC has once again released him.

Silva had previously been released by the promotion on Feb. 7, one day after he was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder. Silva allegedly threatened his estranged wife with a gun in a public place, but the charges - which had been reduced to aggravated assault with a firearm - were dropped altogether early this month when the alleged victim became too uncooperative to continue the investigation.

However, new evidence has come to light, and the UFC has once again released him, providing the following statement:

Thiago Silva was released from his UFC contract on Feb. 7 due to his arrest by police in South Florida. The charges against Silva were dropped by the Broward County District Attorney’s office and Silva was re-signed to the UFC earlier this month. Based on new information received today in the form of video and audio evidence, Silva has been terminated from his UFC contract.

The new evidence the promotion is citing may be related to the videos posted to YouTube on Friday by his estranged wife Thaysa Kamiji. The videos show Silva holding a firearm, searching the house, and speaking angrily to her in Portugese.

Kamiji also spoke to MMAFighting.com on Friday, explaining why she dropped the restraining order against him:

I never lied about anything I've said since the beginning...justice was made.
...
I dropped (the restraining order) so I wouldn’t have to come back to trial and risk losing my job, so I ended up helping Thiago. But I was pissed off when he decided to open his mouth. He should be thanking me, but people never change.

The 31-year-old Silva owns a 16-5 [2] professional record and was 7-5 [2] with the UFC.

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