Perhaps even stranger than Anderson Silva losing inside the Octagon at UFC 162 to Chris Weidman was his post-fight talk with Joe Rogan.
Most fighters who lose immediately go back to the drawing board with the intention of vindicating themselves for a bad performance. Silva didn’t seem to even care about the fact he’d just lost the UFC title along with a taking a major hit to his UFC legacy.
In fact I’m not sure Silva cared less about the actual fight or about what’s next. It’s understandable that Silva would be a little lost. After all, “The Spider” hadn’t lost (legitimately) a MMA bout since 2004. Once Silva is allowed to step away from the cameras for a little bit, I suspect we (along with himself) will have a much clearer picture of what’s next.
It should be pretty elementary as to what’s next. Dana White pushed the fact that if Silva were to lose at UFC 162, he’d get an immediate rematch. Nobody could argue that Silva doesn’t deserve one after how dominant he was prior to facing Weidman and White would surely would love the pay-per-view buys Silva-Weidman II would bring.
However, Silva made it seem as though he was done with the UFC middleweight title and possibly hinted at wanting to make a superfight happen. Understandably, Silva wants to make as much money as possible with the limited time he has left in MMA. Unfortunately for “The Spider.” those big paydays are nonexistent right now.
I’ve seen the idea of Silva facing Michael Bisping in England as a possible big money fight for the Brazilian should he really have no interest in facing Weidman. That makes sense, but the take-home pay from facing Bisping would be chump change compared to what he’d make from the proposed superfights against Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre.
If Silva really has no interest in facing Weidman, I don’t see very many avenues for him to continue his MMA career. He’s accomplished everything a fighter could possibly do and will go down as one of, if not the best, fighter of all time. Muddling around in non-title fights is not something Silva should engage in for the final days of his career.
We’ve seen plenty of MMA legends fall while attempting to reclaim their lost glory. Silva should fight Weidman one more time and retire following that regardless of how that fight pans out. If he loses, then hey it’s pretty clear his time has passed. If Silva wins a rematch I believe he’s smart enough to realize going out on top and not becoming a human punching bag would be in his best interest.
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