Carlos Silva Explains How He Landed Role as TNA President

Carlos Silva is back in the combat sports game—but this time, he’s calling the shots across three different promotions. Now overseeing TNA Wrestling, Invicta FC, and Fight Network under the Anthem Sports Group umbrella, Silva recently broke down exactly how the job came together during a conversation with Ariel Helwani.

Appearing on Ariel Hawani’s show, Silva was asked why he chose to return to the world of combat sports after spending years focused on more traditional sports like World Team Tennis. Helwani pointed out that most people who leave combat sports rarely circle back.

“So how did this all come about? Because sometimes when you leave combat and you go down the more traditional sports path, you don’t come back. You don’t want to come back. And so here you are with this massive opportunity. Anthem Sports… how did this all come about for you?”

Silva explained that his long history with Fight Network helped lay the groundwork for his return.

“That’s really how it started. I mean, if you go back in time to World Series of Fighting, you know, Fight Network was our distributor in Canada. And so we, you know, we distributed. They were great partners.Got to know Len Asper and the team a little bit over the years, you know, continued working with them even into the PFL days.”

He then revealed that the actual job opportunity came through a well-connected friend in the sports world.

“And I got a call—I got a call from a friend, a buddy of mine, Rick Alessandri, who you may know. Rick ran X Games and now is in the recruiting business and was at ESPN for years. And Rick said, you know, Len and the team are looking for a new president.”

With a deep knowledge of the brands under Anthem’s umbrella already, Silva said everything just fell into place.

“I knew Anthem Sports well because of the properties. I obviously knew Invicta a little bit from back in the day and Shannon and what she was doing. It felt like, in some ways, almost going back to the World Series of Fighting era. There was this groundswell around pro wrestling too. I think we’re in this interesting moment in time—it feels a little ‘heyday-like’ again because of all the great things happening with WWE and AEW.”

From there, he was all in.

“So I jumped in. There was a process. We talked about it, we talked through how to do it. And then I joined in—sort of end of December, really January because it was the holidays—and jumped in and have spent the last six months reworking some things and rebuilding. And so far, so good.”

Carlos Silva stepping into a top-level role shows Anthem is getting serious about shaking things up across its brands. With new leadership and momentum building behind TNA and Invicta, Silva’s past combat experience may be just what they need to level up.

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