There has been so much speculation as to whether or not mixed martial arts legend Anderson Silva will return from a nasty leg injury suffered at UFC 168.
Some people think he’ll physically be unable to return, while others think it will be a lack of mental motivation that will fuel future retirement.
Some people think he will return to the Octagon and fight like his former self, while others simply don’t know.
Either way, Silva’s return will never be truly set in stone until he actually says so or actually steps inside the cage. So in the meantime—especially considering the timetable of his return—all we can do is speculate.
And if we can’t get a final decision from the man himself, why not ask the man who trains him?
Former UFC heavyweight Pedro Rizzo and current trainer to Silva recently shed some light on the whole retirement situation, originally reported by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting:
“At the hospital, Anderson told me ‘I will be back, master. I will be back,’” said Rizzo. “I told him ‘yeah, you’ll be back home to recover and rest’. And he said ‘I will be back, master.’ He’s a fighter. He has six months to recover, heal and then decide what he’s going to do next.”
“He has everything to come back to fighting if he wants,” added Rizzo. “He has a good head to handle all the pressure from the UFC through all these years. Anderson will decide that. He just broke a leg, he has a lot of things to think now. He has nothing left to prove inside the Octagon. But if he decides to fight again, we will be there to help him.”
Rizzo was in Silva’s corner at UFC 168 when the former middleweight champion landed a leg kick that was perfectly checked by Chris Weidman. According to him, it was an ending that “nobody could ever imagine.”
In any case, it’s going to be up to Silva’s body, mental fortitude and support from his family and friends that will dictate whether or not he makes a return to the UFC.
We would all be so lucky to see him entertain one more time.
For more UFC news and coverage, Follow @DHiergesell
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