UFC legend Anderson Silva says he’s done with MMA – ‘I don’t need to prove nothing for anybody’
- The 43-year-old former UFC middleweight champion admits ‘it’s hard to stay training in a good level in MMA’
- ‘I just try to enjoy every single moment I fight in different sports. And that’s it,’ adds ‘The Spider’ ahead of boxing return
Anderson Silva has said he is content to leave the cage in his rear-view mirror.
The former UFC middleweight champion (34-11, one no contest) told ESPN that his career as an MMA fighter is over.
“I think MMA for me is done,” Silva, 46, said. “Because it’s hard to train MMA. It’s hard to stay training in a good level because you hurt yourself a lot.
“Now I just try to enjoy. I don’t need to prove nothing for anybody. I just try to enjoy every single moment I fight in different sports. And that’s it.”
Silva isn’t leaving combat sports entirely.
He is slated to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr in a boxing match on June 19 in Mexico. Silva owns a 1-1 career record as a boxer.
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Silva has posted just a single victory in his last nine fights, going 1-7 with one no-contest over a span of more than seven years.
“The Spider” suffered a fourth-round TKO defeat by Uriah Hall last October in his final bout in the Octagon before being cut by the UFC. He has tested positive twice for performance-enhancing drugs, but was cleared of the most recent failed test in 2017.
Silva was at his peak from 2006-2013, when he set UFC records for the longest title reign (2,457 days), longest winning streak (16), title fight finishes (9) and knock-downs (18). He ranks second in the promotion in title defences (10), a record he held until Demetrious Johnson reached 11 in 2017.
