Anderson Silva, the man widely regarded as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world, apparently only asked for four fights on his new UFC contract, before he signed a 10-fight deal.
Silva made the revelation in a recent interview with MMA Junkie in which the 38-year-old said he hopes he still has the willpower to see out the new contract.
“I wanted to do four more fights, and they said eight, so I said, ‘Whatever. Let’s do eight, 10. Let’s do however many fights you want,’” Silva told MMA Junkie. “They got on that ride and offered me 10 fights, and that’s what I signed.”
Since his UFC debut in 2006, Silva has gone on to break all the most notable records in the promotion, including most all-time knockdowns, most significant strike accuracy, longest all-time UFC win streak, most title fight victories, most UFC title defences and longest title reign in days.
How much longer the veteran can go on at this point in his career is still anybody’s guess.
He’s due to face Chris Weidman, a man a decade younger than him, in his next fight scheduled for July 6 at UFC 162. The Brazilian has opened as a small odds-on-favourite, but many, including the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Georges St. Pierre, believe that Weidman could be the toughest test in Silva’s entire career.
Win or lose that match, the options for “The Spider” are limited. In the middleweight division, aside from Weidman, a rematch against Vitor Belfort, who’s been knocking out contenders left and right, could be a tantalising grudge match between the two biggest names in Brazilian MMA.
And then, of course, there’s the much-talked-about superfights with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones or GSP.
But after that, whether Silva will have any motivation to see out a 10-fight contract is something that not even he can be sure of.
“It all depends,” Silva said in the MMA Junkie interview. “Ten fights is about six years, so we’ll see what happens in the meantime. I hope that I’m still inspired and that I still have the willpower and the desire to go out there and fight. But I’m happy.
“I’m well-treated by Dana and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and everyone in the UFC, and I hope to continue having this desire to fight and go in there and train. But it’s a matter of time. We have to go in there and see what’s going to happen in the next few years.”
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