Silva begyndte at træne [[jiu-jitsu]] med nabobørene, der havde råd til at modtage undervisning. Han forklarede senere om sin introduktion til MMA i et interview med FIGHT! Magazine: "When I started out, Jiu-Jitsu was really an elite thing in Brazil, and there was some prejudice towards poorer kids, so I had to learn things on my own... Some of my neighbors started doing Jiu-Jitsu, so I started watching it, and then started rolling with them. It wasn’t organized training, but it was better than nothing." I en alder af 13 havde hans familie råd til at lade ham starte til [[Taekwondo]], hvorefter han startede til [[Capoeira]], før han til sidst begyndte til [[Thaiboxing]] i en alder 16 år.<ref name="FIGHT!" />
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