ONE Championship says they are not in the running to acquire the services of Anderson Silva.
Last week, news came out that the UFC had released former middleweight king Anderson Silva. There was no waiting period, and the 45-year-old was free to sign with any promotion. The UFC had promoted his fight with Uriah Hall as Anderson’s retirement fight, but Silva has said since that he’s not done yet.
Now he just needs to find a place to fight. But it doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of interest out there on the market.
First, Bellator CEO Scott Coker wasn’t high on the idea, saying he’s happy with his current roster and hadn’t really thought about it. Today, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong gave his two cents, and went a step further by saying they wouldn’t sign The Spider out of safety concerns (via Fightful):
“I am a huge Anderson Silva fan. Without a doubt, he is one of the best ever to do it. That being said, athlete safety is our number one priority at ONE Championship. As such, we will not be bidding for his services. I wish Anderson much happiness and success in whatever he chooses to do next.”
Silva (34-11, 1 NC) spent fourteen years in the UFC, and dominated the middleweight division for the first half of that time. Since 2013 though, he had only picked up one win in nine fights and was stopped in his last two defeats. He’s a future Hall-of-Famer no matter what, but it remains to be seen if we’ll see Silva in competition again.