I heard a rumor that he was a rabid fan who kept harassing Dana about mismatches and got the job as a trial... which turned out for him.
Curious his background and how he got the gig.
The mismatch thing is a joke..total setup from the get go.
Anyone have input on his qualificaitons to actually get the job? Did he do this before?
If I remember right, Tito said something about Joe Silva doing the matchmaking before Zuffa. Not sure about qualifications back then..
When Lorenzon and Dana bought ufc he was already their. Apparently he was the old bosses right hand man and a mastermind. So they kept him.
Their is very little info on this guy, he is a mysterious man.
Anderson's twin brother. He is the Danny Devitto to Anderson's Arnold Schwarzenegger. 
Even [Dana] White, who is pretty much the complete source for all Silva-related information, remains hazy on his background. "Joe was involved even before Zuffa bought the company," said White… "What I believe is that the old owner didn’t know a lot about MMA and Joe was kind of his right-hand man. It was actually Tito (Ortiz) that told me at that time, ‘You should talk to this guy.’"
He sent in matchup ideas to the SEG owners via Blackbelt magazine and was taken on board, then when Zuffa took over they kept him on board and made him the main matchmaker/talent scout.
There are a couple of videos on youtube of people interviewing him. He states that Dana insists on being the face of the UFC so he is not allowed to do official interviews (the ones on youtube are just guys talking to him at events and such). I vaguely remember him mentioning that he was interviewed for BlackBelt magazine and Dana wouldn't let them publish it.
Either way, the dude is awesome at his job and appears to love it.
Joe Silva has the best job in the world, that is all.
I've heard/read what has already been posted here but he's a hell of a nice guy when you meet him or have a conversation with him. And even if I disagree with some of the cuts, he's amazing at what he does.
He really is great at what he does and has a very difficult job. I was at UFC 84 sitting in the very last seat in the damn building with my head touching the damn roof of the MGM and all of a sudden Joe Silva walks right up kind of just looking around. I'm like "hey how are u Joe?" and he says,
"these seats actually aren't too bad." Then he kinda just walks off. I'm thinking why don't u trade me little guy!
My memory of it, and I could certainly be way off base, is that he was very active on the internet and a big wrestling fan and emailed with the prior ownership and posted his thoughts and ideas online and got his job that way.
He's the man.
mmavixen - I've heard/read what has already been posted here but he's a hell of a nice guy when you meet him or have a conversation with him. And even if I disagree with some of the cuts, he's amazing at what he does.This.
I was honoured to speak with the man in London recently. Very humble.
Joe Silva has a background in boxing, kickboxing and wrestling.
He was kind of a "right hand man" to original ufc owner Meyrowitz.
He's rampages sworn enemy