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Anderson Silva still wants to continue fighting after his last UFC bout with Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 12.
It was seemingly set in stone that Anderson Silva’s fight against Uriah Hall this weekend will be his last fight in the UFC, but “The Spider” says he is still hoping to compete elsewhere in the future.
Silva (34-10, 1NC) will compete in his 25th UFC fight in the main event of UFC Vegas 12 against Hall. The former longtime middleweight champion has only won one of his eight fights, but has lost fights against elite competitors in that run such as Israel Adesanya and Daniel Cormier.
Talking during a online media scrum before his fight with Hall, Silva addressed whether this would be the final fight of his MMA career, or just his UFC career.
“Everybody’s asking this, and the answer will always be the same,” Silva said. “Maybe it’s the last, maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s the last fight in the UFC, yes, in agreement between Dana and I. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll do the other fight I have in my contract, maybe not. Anything can happen.
“After the fight, we’ll probably see what we’ll do, to continue fighting or not, but my wish is to continue, for sure,” he added. “But let’s wait. Uriah is the focus now, and after that we’ll see the next steps, we’ll talk to Dana, we’ll see what’s doable and what’s not.”
Finding a fight elsewhere might not be as easy as Silva hopes. The 45-year-old, who is currently the oldest fighter on the UFC roster, still has two fights left on his contract. Silva says he isn’t looking past his fight with Hall and wants to get it out of the way before deciding his future.
“The fight with Uriah is my focus, and then we’ll see if we really want to stop, if we’ll continue, if we’ll leave the UFC or not,” Silva said. “All that, we’ll find out after the fight. I’ll be able to answer you and other reporters.”
UFC Vegas 12 takes place this Saturday, October 31st, at the UFC’s Apex facility.