Anderson Silva Reveals he Wanted to Retire Back in 2012, Before Losing to Chris Weidman

Anderson Silva hasn’t walked away from fighting just yet, despite the fact he just turned 45. But, the star has likely raised eyebrows by revealing he wanted to retire all the way back in 2012, before his storied reign as middleweight champion came to an end.

Silva wanted to retire before bouts with Chris Weidman

As it stands right now, it’s not clear when and who Silva will fight next. The Brazilian fighter is coming off a stoppage loss to Jared Cannonier last May.

But, recently Silva did an interview with the UFC, and during it “The Spider” revealed he was planning to retire back in 2012. At the time, Silva wasn’t long removed from a first-round, stoppage win over light-heavyweight Stephan Bonnar, and the champ had defended the middleweight title 10 times (comments via MMA Fighting).

“I want to stop, I want a time for myself, to stay with my family,” Silva said. “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.”

According to the story, Silva told UFC President Dana White and ownership that he wanted to retire. But, not long after, the promotion gave him a brand new Bentley Continental GT.

Silva ended up agreeing to fight Weidman at UFC 162 in July, 2013, and the latter shocked the world by knocking out the legend in round two.

“But one day before I started my camp to fight Weidman, I already was too saturated,” Silva said. “I never talked about this, never used this term ‘if I win.’ I said to [my wife], ‘If I win, I’ll stop, I won’t fight anymore.’”

After the loss, Silva was booked to rematch Weidman at UFC 168 in December of that year. But the fight ended in disastrous fashion, as Silva broke his leg in round two.

“I would have stopped if I had won the fight, I wouldn’t fight anymore, but I ended up breaking my leg,” Silva reported. “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.”

Reaction?

These comments are really interesting for a couple of reasons. First, the fact Silva wanted to retire in 2012 isn’t that surprising really. At the time, he stood atop the MMA world, he was 37 and he was likely already set for life financially.

So,  Silva could have walked away at the peak of his powers.

It’s also interesting, however, that Silva has continued to fight for so long since. Despite the fact he’s only scored one official win since the losses to Weidman.

Will Silva’s next bout be his last? Or might we see him retire without fighting one more time?