Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva lost the gold to Chris Weidman via second round knockout in the main event of UFC 162.
That historic bout almost didn’t come to fruition because Silva told both UFC President Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta that he wanted to retire before accepting the fight.
“I want to stop, I want a time for myself, to stay with my family,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “I have been doing this for years and I’m losing contact with my kids. I’m only training and training, it’s not working for me anymore.”
Silva has only won just one of eight since losing the UFC Middleweight Title, with that lone win coming over Derek Brunson at UFC 208.
The former middleweight champion also admits that if he would’ve defeated Weidman at UFC 162, it would’ve led to retiring for good.
“I would have stopped if I had won the fight, I wouldn’t fight anymore, but I ended up breaking my leg,” Silva said. “I think that was a message from God saying to me, ‘Look, man, you’re not supposed to stop yet. It took so long for you to get here and now you want to stop?’ I don’t know, I think those are subliminal messages that stay in your head.”
There is no word yet on what Silva’s future plans are, as the fighter is still recovering from a leg injury suffered against Jared Cannonier at UFC 237.
