Say It Ain’t So Anderson…

With Anderson Silva’s upcoming title defense approximately a month away against Canadian heavy-hitter Patrick Cote, ‘The Spider’ took the time to speak with the Brazilian cable channel, SporTV, about his future. Upon reading his remarks, I must admit that I did not anticipate what the dominant middleweight champion of the UFC had to say:

“”I’ll retire next year, I already gave my all. I don’t need to prove anything for anyone and within one year I’ll put my gloves aside.”

These comments certainly can not make Dana White happy, especially after one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world recently asked to fight more often than he had been given the chance to do. He was even given the opportunity to move up to 205 pounds to fight James Irvin and disposed of him quite easily. 

I’ll admit that the landscape at 185 looks quite bleak for Silva at the moment, but why not take on some huge fights in the loaded 205-pound division and go after that title as well? No one in the UFC has ever held two titles at the same time and I believe that Silva has a great chance to do so, if he wanted. 

Silva has always been a fighter who fights with a great deal of pride and proclaiming that he has ‘nothing left to prove to anyone’ is right in line with this. He is a man who fights for himself and to challenge himself and become as good as he can be. If there is no one left to challenge him, then there is really no other options at his current weight.

However, one has to wonder if this is simply a quote spoken when Silva was having a bad day or if it perhaps is simply a ploy to get a more lucrative contract from the UFC. There are too many good matches left for Anderson at 205 and he is at the peak of his career and just starting to gain mainstream notoriety. 

Why quit now?

I believe that we have not seen the end of ‘The Spider’ and that his career will continue much longer than he would now have us believe. I think that when pressed about these comments that Anderson Silva will change his tune a little bit. He already has a match coming up against Patrick Cote and would probably like to avenge his loss to another top contender in the middleweight division, Yushin Okami. After that, however, I believe that Silva may indeed retire…but only from the middleweight division. That is when his career in the 205-pound division will commence and he can try his hand against some of the best fighters the sport has to offer. 

If you tend to agree with my assessment then I ask you one thing: What in the world must Rich Franklin do to get away from Anderson Silva?

‘Ace’ would be one of many current 205-pounders who would not like to have Silva join them in the most stacked division in all of MMA. 

I, however, can’t wait.

UPDATE:

Bloodyelbow.com has the following from Silva’s manager, Ed Soares:

“Anderson’s goal is to retire when he is 35,” wrote Soares. “He still has six fights on his contract and he doesn’t turn 35 for another 18 months. I know he will finish his six fights before he considers hanging up his gloves.”

While it is good news that his manager believes that Anderson will fulfill his contractual obligations, this really only means that we may get two more fights than ‘The Spider’ would have us believe. The difference between a year and a year and a half is very minimal. I still feel it would be a shame for Anderson Silva to even be contemplating retirement at this time. Though he is growing older, his late entrance to the UFC leaves me feeling that I have not yet seen enough of this guy.

I’m still hoping Cote has the upset in him…But really, what are his chances?

 

Feel free to reach me at mikemoffatt@sportstalkbuzz.com with any thoughts or comments about this, or any other articles or any other thoughts on mixed martial arts.

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