Anderson Silva not sure if he’ll finish out his 8-fight contract, but why should he fight at all?

Anderson-Silva

Why do you do these things, Anderson. You play with my heart like you did Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin heads. Before fighting Weidman, you signed an 8-fight contract. Now, heading into your 40th year on this planet, and coming off a shattered leg via Weidman’s Knee Destruction™, now you’re not so sure about fulfilling your contract.

I get it; it’s your choice. You don’t have to fight these fights, and you have a long and storied history of trolling the universe, but these words said by Anderson hit me – this is the first time I think his retirement talk is real. In fact, I could absolutely see Anderson coming back to fight once more, wins like he usually does, then retires. Or, God forbid, he loses, then he either stays until he gets that win, or just rides off into a sunset painted by a thousand former fighters.

I guess what hurts is that we could either be seeing an Anderson Silva-level comeback here, or a fall like so many others. Can my heart even take seeing Anderson go out on his shield another 3-4 times? With Chuck, you saw it coming. It was his fighting style. Dude took damage. Jens Pulver was heartbreaking more for the kind of great soul he is than the fighter, and even Tyson, Ali, and so many others fell far too many times before deciding to hang up their gloves for good.

The names are circling in my head right now, and it hurts. I don’t want Anderson to be BJ Penn. I don’t want to see Anderson feel like he has to come back. For as horrifying of an end that it was for him, it almost makes sense. Anderson Silva, a man who in losing, is more mysterious and highlight-worthy than even in his thick catalogue of winning.

I wish we could just take his DNA and make him fight for the next 1000 years.

I have eight fights to do yet in my contract. I want to do all these fights but I don’t know that I will be in the mood to do this. For now, I’m very excited, I’m going through a renovation phase. It’s going to be nice for me do what I love when I be back to fighting.”