Proving that he was serious about his desire to fight for another decade, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has signed a new 10-fight contract to remain with the company, UFC president Dana White told reporters after Saturday’s UFC 155 event (via MMAWeekly.com).
He signed a 10-fight deal. I don’t think we’ve ever done a 10-fight deal. Maybe we did one with Forrest once, I don’t remember, but Anderson said, “I want a 10-fight deal, not an eight-fight deal.” I’ll give him a 100-fight deal if he wants one.
Despite being 37 years old, an age when most fighters are holding on to their former glory, Silva has shown no signs of slowing down. He fought twice in 2012, destroying Chael Sonnen in a rematch of their classic battle two years ago, and humiliating Stephan Bonnar in October.
Domination is nothing new for Silva. He has been the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport of mixed martial arts basically since he stepped into the Octagon for the first time all the way back in 2006.
Over the last six years, Silva has amassed a record of 16-0 with 11 knockouts and three submissions. As great as that sounds on paper, The Spider has been even better when you watch him on tape.
It is one thing for a fighter to dominate against the best in the world, but it is something else to be able to do it with the level of consistency Silva has. Aside from that close call against Sonnen in August 2010, no one has been able to touch him.
If Silva stays at his current pace of two fights per year, this new deal will take him through 2017 and the age of 42.
Now that Silva has agreed to this new deal, the constant speculation about potential superfights with Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones, among others, will continue to get louder. All of that is for the future.
Right now is all about celebrating the continued presence of one of the greatest athletes of the last decade in UFC for the foreseeable future.
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