Getty Anderson Silva is heading to a boxing ring.
UFC legend Anderson Silva is “probably” heading into his last UFC fight on Saturday night against middleweight contender Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night 182, but the 45-year-old former 185-pound champ revealed to Heavy he’s not closing the door on anything after that, including turning those long lost potential superfights against Conor McGregor and Roy Jones Jr. from dreams to realities.
In fact, when asked in different ways about what comes next for Silva after facing Hall on October 31 in Las Vegas, Silva consistently stated one thing.
“Let’s go see.”
One last chapter for the legacy…
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Silva: ‘Not the Last Fight in My Life’
While his next fight is being billed by its promoters as Silva’s swan song, the truth of the matter is the ex-champ doesn’t intend on walking away from the sport after facing Hall.
Sure, Silva admitted it would be hard to walk away from MMA someday, but he also said he didn’t have to think about any of that stuff right now.
“It’s hard to walk away, but I won’t be walking away from the sport,” Silva said. “It’s just probably this is the last fight in the UFC, but not the last fight in my life.”
And would Silva, the former face of the company, be open to potentially competing under another MMA promotional banner someday?
“Let’s go see, you know,” Silva said. “My focus right now is only for this fight with Uriah. After that, I’ll go check it out.”
So Silva’s so-called retirement fight might not really be that at all.
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Silva vs. Jones Jr.?
Silva said he was hyped to see 51-year-old boxing legend Jones Jr. heading back into a boxing ring soon to face Mike Tyson.
“I’m very excited to watch this fight…it’s two big legends…Of course, it’s an exhibition fight, but I’m very excited about it.”
Years before UFC superstar McGregor dared to challenge Floyd Mayweather Jr. inside a boxing ring in 2017, Silva had plans to do the same thing with that generation’s best boxing champ, Jones Jr.
“That was a very special moment,” Silva said. “I dreamed the idea of that fight with the UFC a long time ago, but the fight did not happen. But it’s fine.”
Silva and Jones Jr. once seemed destined to fight each other, but that idea eventually fell through after Silva shockingly lost his UFC middleweight title to Chris Weidman in 2013 at UFC 162.
Jones Jr. famously sat cageside that night, so the potential superfight seems to have just slipped out each man’s grasp at the last moment.
Still, Silva said he could see a case where maybe that long lost superfight boxing match could finally come back around to him now that Jones Jr. was back.
“Maybe, you know? Let’s go see,” Silva said. “Maybe Dana [White] will give me this fight and promote this fight. I don’t know. I’ll go check it out. I don’t know, because when I talked to Dana about fighting, Dana said ‘It’s up to you. You have one more fight on your contract.’ But let’s go see.”
Silva vs. McGregor?
Silva basically said the same thing about potentially facing McGregor in an intergenerational superfight catchweight bout.
Just around five months McGregor shockingly agreed to face Silva only to be rebuffed by UFC officials and some fans on social media over the proposed megafight.
That left Silva close to netting a lucrative superfight against the Irish superstar but not actually able to land it.
While the Brazilian admitted it seemed McGregor had already moved on to other matters, most notably his presumed UFC rematch against Dustin Poirier next month and another superfight boxing match against boxing legend Manny Pacquiao next year, Silva said he would be happy to be part of McGregor’s future plans, too.
“Everything is possible,” Silva said. “When I started talking about Conor, I just started causing waves and checking it out. It didn’t happen, but it’s fine. I think that every single moment changes. Conor has different plans, but let’s go see.”
Silva Leaves Door Open for Future UFC Fights
Regardless, Silva said whatever happens next in his fighting career was something to which he could only work his part of the equation.
“A lot of people are asking me about Dana and how much is Dana bad or good,” Silva said. “Let me tell you something, Dana is a good guy. I respect him a lot. I don’t have a problem with Dana.”
Silva said his ideas about his future and White’s ideas for the UFC sometimes didn’t come together, but that it was all just part of how things work.
“Of course, sometimes, I’m just talking about my vision, you know,” Silva said. “‘This is good for you but not for me. Let’s go make something good between you and me.’ I respect Dana.”
So whether his last UFC fight is against Hall on Saturday night or his career moves on to other places, Silva said he will always love and respect his entire UFC family, and that includes the UFC president.
But none of those positive vibes necessarily mean he’s on his way to retiring.
“When this fight is done, I’ll go check it out. I’ll check out all the opportunities,” Silva said. “Let’s go see.”
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