Erick Vinicius Silva (born June 21, 1984) is a Brazilian former mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division. A professional from 2005 till 2019, he competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator MMA, and Jungle Fight, where he was the inaugural Welterweight Champion. He is also former UFC Bantamweight fighter Gabriel Silva's big brother. Mixed martial arts career Background and early career Silva comes from Vila Velha, Brazil and was an X-Gym training partner for the likes of Anderson Silva, Rafael Feijao and Jacare Souza. Jungle Fight Championship Silva joined Jungle Fight, appearing at Jungle Fight 9 against Carlos Eduardo dos Santos. In the third and final round, Silva defeated dos Santos via rear naked choke. At Jungle Fight 11, he defeated Igor Fernandes via unanimous decision. Silva followed that up with two further victories in the promotion. Silva then competed in a unique fight of his career, at Jungle Fight 17, which was held outdoors. On the day of the event, the weather was clear throughout, until less than an hour before the start, when rain began to fall and never stopped. The event, which went down as one of the wettest in MMA history was not a successful one for Silva who hit his downed opponent with a knee, resulting in a no contest verdict. Silva won his next fight, at Jungle Fight 21, via TKO (knee and punches) in the second round. Silva then entered into the tournament for the inaugural Jungle Fight Welterweight Championship at Jungle Fight 23. Silva defeated both opponents on the same night to win the tournament. His opening round matchup was against Gil de Freitas. The opening round saw Silva utilize his striking game to take the first round, though de Freitas came back strongly in the second round with his take downs and effective ground game. In the final round, Silva caught de Freitas with a roundhouse kick to the liver, dropping him. After Silva used ground-and-pound to set up a guillotine choke, de Freitas was forced to tap out. Silva progressed to the tournament final, where he faced the Mexican, Francisco Ayon. Ayon had just come off a split decision victory in the semi-final and he wasn't able to mount any offense against Silva, who took him down. After hitting him with several punches, Silva locked in an arm triangle choke to force the tap out with just