After exorcising demons, Silva must decide whether to continue
Without looking at the context of Anderson Silva’s Ultimate Fighting Championship career, his unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz in the main event of UFC 183 at MGM Grand Garden on Saturday night could easily be seen as fairly insignificant.
Anyone who witnessed Silva laying flat on his back sobbing after the scores were read knows that’s not the case.
Silva said the victory in his comeback fight 13 months after suffering a horrific leg injury in the same venue enabled him to exorcise the demons of that night in December 2013.
“Absolutely,” Silva said. “It was a culmination of a year of hard work and a lot of pain and a lot rehabilitation. Now, it’s over.”
Now it’s time for Silva to decide exactly what his comeback means. The 39-year-old Brazilian was the longest-reigning champion in UFC history and is still widely considered the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
He said he would feel secure with his accomplishments if he were to never again step foot in the octagon again.
But Silva thinks he wants to keep fighting and would do so if the decision was his alone to make.
That’s not the case.
“When I finished, I went back to the locker room, and I called my family,” Silva said at the post-fight news conference. “My son, Kalyl, said, ‘Dad, congratulations, but done. Back to home, please. No more fight.’ So this is my son.”
Silva said he will go home and discuss with his family whether to continue his fighting career.
“I need to talk to my family. I love my job. This is me,” Silva said. “I love to fight, but I need to talk to my family because this is more important in my life now.”
His son shared similar concerns with Silva after he broke his leg in the fight against Chris Weidman. The 17-year-old, Silva’s second eldest son, wept as he pleaded with his father to not risk further injury by returning to the cage.
But there was no way Silva was going to walk away with the final image of him writhing and screaming in pain after breaking the fibula and tibia in his left leg.
This time, he’s at least willing to listen.
“I need to talk to them and I’ll talk serious now,” Silva said.
Should he choose to continue fighting, Silva would have plenty of options. Weidman’s title defense against Vitor Belfort scheduled for Feb. 28 in Los Angeles was canceled because of an injury to Weidman, but Silva would likely be granted a fight against the winner whenever the fight does happen if he so desired.
Though he cruised to an easy win on the scorecards Saturday, his performance isn’t likely to inspire a whole lot of demand for a third chance against Weidman, who ended Silva’s reign as champion in July 2013.
Silva is still among the biggest draws in the sport, so he could also just compete in matchups that interest him instead of pursuing the belt. That could be more likely since Silva complained at the end of his title run about the immense pressures of being the champion.
UFC president Dana White indicated he has no idea what Silva may decide.
He thought there were times the former champion looked tentative on Saturday, but offered rave reviews of his overall performance.
“For those of you that aren’t 39-years-old yet, let me tell you what: To go out there and do what that guy is still doing and do what he’s done to this point is amazing,” White said. “I thought he physically looked amazing tonight.”
White said he thought it would take another fight to truly determine whether Silva was back to full strength.
Fans may never get that opportunity, though Silva’s manager may have offered some insight on a social media posting late Saturday night.
Ed Soares left a comment on an Instagram post that posed the question of whether Silva had competed for the final time.
“It won’t be the last, I promise. Let’s let him enjoy the moment,” Soares posted.
Two things that did likely happen for the final time on Saturday night were John Lineker competing at flyweight and Kelvin Gastelum fighting as a welterweight.
Both fighters missed weight badly on Friday and both are repeat offenders.
White said he will require both to move up in weight for their next fights.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
