MMA veteran Wanderlei Silva announced that he is ending his fighting career to pursue political aspirations in his home country of Brazil.
UFC and PRIDE veteran Wanderlei Silva is currently slated to face Quinton Jackson at Bellator 206 this September. And according to “The Axe Murderer”, this fourth fight against “Rampage” could very well be his last.
Speaking to MMA Fighting in July, the 42-year-old Curitiba, Brazil native revealed that he is set on focusing on his political aspirations, which he has been looking at since 2014.
“I’m facing this as maybe it is my last fight,” Silva said. “I will run for federal deputy now. It’s a new career, a new time in my life. I’m seeing the need for it. There are guys being elected that have no business being there, a bunch of poor guys, dishonest guys that steal from the people. You have to put guys that have an ideal and already have money to live so they don’t need to steal from the people.”
Should his political aspirations turn out to be unsuccessful, Silva says he will likely go on with his retirement plans.
“I will do this fight and then I’ll run for congress and if I get elected, I’ll go one direction, and if I don’t get elected, I’ll go another one,” he said. “But the intention is that maybe this is my last fight. … I think that being elected or not, maybe this is my last fight. I’ve done enough. But there are a lot of people coming back. I think that my performance will say if it’s my last one or not.”
In a recent Instagram post bearing the photo caption “My fight here is now,” Silva officially kicked off his campaign for federal deputy.
Bellator 206 takes place on September 29th in San Jose, California. It will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between champions Gegard Mousasi and Rory MacDonald.