Mixed Martial Arts Fighter Thiago Silva to Remain in Broward Jail as Bond Hearing Is Delayed

Thiago Silva lost a round in court Friday.

"Nobody's deliberately doing it, but he's definitely falling through the cracks," said attorney Scott Saul in a Broward County courtroom, speaking at what was supposed to be a bond hearing for Silva, 31.

The mixed martial arts fighter sat in his jailhouse scrubs, watching his lawyer do the fighting. Saul argued that Silva should be out on bond, since he is no longer being charged with a non-bondable crime.

"And here we are two weeks later, my client is sitting in jail, not on the felonies, on bondable offenses, and he has no bond," Saul told the judge.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Silva on Feb. 6, saying he pulled a gun on his estranged wife in the parking lot of a gym, put the gun in her mouth, threatened to kill her, and then locked himself into a townhouse until SWAT team deputies talked him into surrendering peacefully.

He was booked into the Broward County Main Jail, and there he stays. On Friday the state moved his case to the domestic violence court, delaying a bond hearing by about a week.

"We're gonna get him out of prison, this is (expletive), honestly, the state has known for a week this hearing was scheduled for today and did nothing," said Silva's manager, Glenn Robinson.

More than a dozen friends showed up in the courtroom to be in Silva's corner.

"He has a tremendous amount of support, he's a very beloved person," Saul said.

Silva's lawyer says this case is an aberration, and that Silva has no criminal record. His manager doesn't believe the charges.

"It's not true, and the truth will come out," Robinson said.

This much is definitely true: the criminal case has knocked out Silva's career. The UFC fired him, and assuming he eventually bonds out of jail, he still faces a trial, and prison time if convicted.

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