If you thought Anderson Silva’s days inside of the Octagon were numbered you may have been wrong.
Silva, who takes on middleweight power puncher Jared Cannonier tomorrow night (Sat., May 11, 2019) at UFC 237 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is currently working on a contract extension with the promotion he has called home since 2006.
That’s according to Silva’s manager, Jorge Guimaraes, who spoke to ESPN Brazil’s Igor Resende earlier this week and revealed “Spider” is close to inking another deal with UFC.
“Oh, the deal will be absolutely renewed,” Guimaraes said. “We’ve already talked about that, and [UFC president Dana White is] interested in it. Just take a look what the boom he caused in Brazil because of that. The UFC is interested. Good things are coming.”
At 44 years of age, some may think that Silva’s best days are behind him. That may be the case as the former UFC middleweight champion has put together a 1-5 (1 NC) record since the start of 2013, but Guimaraes is confident that the Brazilian legend still has a lot of fight left in the tank.
“Absolutely not [close to retirement],” said Guimaraes. “He’s still got plenty of firewood to burn. He has a very high IQ and knows how to train well. Age is just a number. He never did [recreational] drugs and never drank. He’s perfectly healthy. I think he’s in his best shape ever.”
Coming off a hard-fought main event loss against Israel Adesanya back at UFC 234, Silva will have the opportunity to knock off Cannonier this weekend in Brazil and regain some divisional momentum heading into the second half of 2019. The 13-year UFC veteran may find it difficult to string together impressive wins in a growing 185-pound class, but he’s still good enough to compete alongside the Top 15 and still popular enough to push the needle for fight fans everywhere.
And who knows, maybe UFC 237 will mark the first Anderson Silva finish since “Spider” obliterated Stephan Bonnar back in 2012.