Silva has surprised many by announcing the potential end of his MMA career along with a run for Federal Deputy in the Brazilian elections.
Would you vote for an Axe Murderer?
That’s a question the good people of Brazil will answer come October 7th when the first round of the country’s federal elections take place. Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva just announced his intention hours ago to run for a position in the Chamber of Deputies.
”Our time is coming!” Wand wrote on his Instagram. “As I am happy with so many demonstrations of support, I am putting my name at the disposal of your brothers. We will not have stickers, sound cars, painted murals, nobody will pay 100 to receive 50! You see this candidate spending a lot of time opening eyes, my campaign will be the campaign of Gandhi: simple with the ideals of love and honesty and friendship.”
Despite the fact that Wanderlei was just in Japan campaigning for a fight in Rizin Fighting Federation, it sounds like he’s going to retire from MMA should his political aspirations come to fruition … and may even if they don’t. That would potentially make his bout against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at Bellator 206 on September 29th his last fight. Perhaps this training camp isn’t going as well as it should?
“I’m facing this as maybe it is my last fight,” Silva confirmed with MMA Fighting. “I will run for federal deputy now. It’s a new career, a new time in my life. I’m seeing the need for it. There are guys being elected that have no business being there, a bunch of poor guys, dishonest guys that steal from the people. You have to put guys that have an ideal and already have money to live so they don’t need to steal from the people.”
”I will do this fight and then I’ll run for congress and if I get elected, I’ll go one direction, and if I don’t get elected, I’ll go another one. But the intention is that maybe this is my last fight. … I think that being elected or not, maybe this is my last fight. I’ve done enough. But there are a lot of people coming back. I think that my performance will say if it’s my last one or not.”
Silva is 42 and his fight against Jackson will be his 51st fight, one that has seen him go 35-13-1 with 1 no contest. The Brazilian legend has fought just once since 2013 – a disappointing decision loss to Chael Sonnen at Bellator 180 in June of 2017. With nothing left to prove, we’d be happy to see Wanderlei move on to something new after the “Rampage” fight, win or lose.
PRIDE will never die, and neither will all the violent highlights Silva generated over the years.