At one time he was one of the best Croatian MMA fighters, and one of those, along with Mirko Filipović, Igor Pokrajec, who popularized this sport in Liepa naša. Even after the end of his great career, he remained in the cage. He became the leader of the Dubrovnik Gladiator and selflessly shared his knowledge with other young fighters and honed their skills. After all, he was a coach Anti Deliji and former KSW champion Antun Račić.
But, unfortunately, the heart of a great fighter, and an even greater man, stopped beating today. Former Croatian MMA fighter Maro Silver he died at the age of 40 after suddenly falling ill.
He was one of the first big stars of our martial arts scene after Cro Cop, and at one time he fought with big names like Jana Blachowicz, Jeff Monson, Nikita Krylova. He ended his career six years ago with 28 wins and only eight losses, and definitely one of the biggest victories was the one 11 years ago when he defeated the American beast Bob Sapp by technical knockout on December 16, 2011!
The two joined forces in Dubrovnik at the Night of the Gladiators event, which was organized by Perak. It was the main fight of the evening, and the Croatian fighter demolished an opponent who once upon a time struck fear into the bones of many fighters, but towards the end of his career he became a punching bag.
From the first second of the fight, Maro took over the middle of the octagon and fiercely attacked Bob Sapp. There were blows on all sides, elbow, knee and straight to the head. He swept under him. After one punch, Sapp fell to the floor, Perak entered a series of punches, and when it was clear that the American was knocked out, the referee stopped the fight in the first round after only three minutes. Such helplessness was somewhat sad to watch.
And then unnecessary drama at the end. The interruption did not sit well with Amir Shafy Pour, Bob Sapp’s trainer, who took the microphone from the program manager and said: The referees stopped the fight too early, this is not right.
As he always was, honest, honest and without a hair on his tongue, Perak tore away the microphone from Amir and said: ‘If you think the fight has ended too soon, then let’s continue,’ said Perak in front of the packed hall in Gospina Polje. However, Bob Sapp was unable to continue the match so the referees confirmed the victory for Perak and the celebration could begin. At the end, they hugged each other in a friendly way and wished each other luck.
After that match, he did a few more fights, and his last one was in 2016 when he lost to Kimball. After that, he realized that it was time to end, he hung up his gloves and successfully stepped into the coaching waters where he honed new young forces.