UPDATE: UFC President Dana White reacts to the Anderson Silva retirement talk during the UFC 183 post-show on FOX Sports 1. Read what White had to say, and/or watch the video of White’s reaction by clicking here.
ORIGINAL STORY:
While the decision has yet to be made, there’s a chance that Saturday night was the last time we will have ever seen MMA legend Anderson Silva compete inside the Octagon.
The former record-setting UFC Middleweight Champion spoke about his future plans at the UFC 183 post-fight press conference after defeating Nick Diaz in the main event of Saturday night’s pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“The Spider” said that after his fight with Diaz on Saturday night, he spoke with his 17-year-old son Khalil, who was in tears after watching his father compete at 39-years-old.
“My son talked to me serious,” said Silva at the post-fight press conference. “When I talked to my son, my son cried. ‘Dad, stop, please. Back home. Please. You don’t need more fights.'”
In an emotional moment, Silva dropped to the ground and broke out in tears immediately after the decision was announced that he had defeated Diaz via unanimous decision. For Silva, if nothing else, it was a chance to end his career on a high note, as there was a chance that the final vision fans would see of “The Spider” was him screaming in pain after breaking his leg in brutal fashion in his second title fight with Chris Weidman back in December of 2013.
Silva explained at the post-fight presser that he needed to prove to himself and his fans that he could return from such a gruesome injury, which he did on Saturday night.
“I’m very happy, so yeah,” said Silva. “It’s my mission. My coach say you have the mission tonight. You need to win. You need to win, because your people in Brazil are waiting for this.”
Silva would go on to reiterate the fact that now that he has accomplished his “mission,” he must talk to his family and discuss his future plans before making any definitive decisions.
“I need to talk to my family,” said Silva. “I love my job. This is me. I love fight. But I need to talk to my family, because this is more important to my life now.”
For complete UFC 183 results, click here.
To watch the complete UFC 183 post-fight press conference, click here.
Talk about this on our official FACEBOOK page, or on our official TWITTER page. You can also talk about it in our popular FORUMS.
