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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, recently told the mixed martial arts (MMA) media that he planned to retire from combat sports prior to his Chris Weidman title defense at UFC 162.
“I want to stop, I want time for myself, to stay with my family,” Silva claims he told UFC President Dana White. “I have been doing this for years and I’m losing contact with my kids. I’m only training and training, it’s not working for me anymore.”
I don’t want to be “that guy” but Silva also agreed to a 10-fight contract extension with UFC back in late 2012, before his “All American” title defense was even booked, which seems like an odd choice for a fighter who’s looking for the exit.
Maybe it was that Bentley Continental GT he got from Lorenzo Fertitta that changed his mind.
“I mean, so basically what he’s saying is he’s a fucking whore,” Coach Ray Longo said on the MMA & Beyond podcast (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “And then for the rematch they gave him gift certificate to McDonald’s. They let him have a shopping spree at Target for the rematch. They bought him out. ‘Listen, I know you don’t wanna do this, but here’s a gift card to Starbucks.’ I don’t even understand, what does that mean.”
Longo coached Weidman to consecutive wins over Silva in 2013.
“I would have stopped if I had won the [rematch], I wouldn’t fight anymore, but I ended up breaking my leg,” Silva continued. “I think that was a message from God saying to me, ‘Look, man, you’re not supposed to stop yet. It took so long for you to get here and now you want to stop?’ I don’t know, I think those are subliminal messages that stay in your head.”
Silva, widely-considered the greatest middleweight champion of all time, has not competed since a technical knockout loss to Jared Cannonier at UFC 237 last May. The 45 year-old “Spider” is just 1-6 (1 NC) since putting pen to paper on his longterm contract in 2012.