3.9k Share this
Getty Anderson Silva
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is heralded as one of the greatest fighters ever, but that doesn’t mean he had a storybook end to his Octagon run.
“The Spider” (34-11, 1 NC) parted ways with the promotion after suffering three defeats in a row, with his last coming at the hands of Uriah Hall in October 2020.
Not only did Silva leave the UFC on a skid, but he also felt disrespected by the promotion, and specifically by UFC president Dana White. That’s what he told Sportsnaut.com in a recent interview.
“When I was done in UFC, everybody — especially Dana White — said, ‘Oh, Anderson can’t fight anymore. Nobody in the same age [group] with Anderson can fight, it’s terrible,’ and blah, blah, blah. And talking a lot of s*** about me,” Silva told the outlet. “And I feel disrespected because it doesn’t matter what happened — fight is fight. You can win, you can lose.
“When you make a success of [MMA], the one thing you need to do for your fighters is [give] respect. In that, I feel no respect. But I don’t care because when I stop fighting, I’m gonna stop fighting because I say I’m gonna stop it,” Silva continued. “Nobody can say for me I [should] stop. No one can say for [anybody] you need to stop now. Nobody. I’ll stop when I say I’m done.”
After leaving the UFC, the 47-year-old legend boxed twice in 2021, earning impressive victories over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
Silva Said the UFC Doesn’t ‘Respect the Legacy’ of Their Former Athletes, Tries to ‘Destroy Careers’ Instead
The Spider continued with his thoughts on his former MMA home. Silva doesn’t believe the UFC shows enough respect for the legacy some fighters carve inside the Octagon.
In fact, Silva thinks the promotion goes out of its way to “destroy” the careers of some of its former combatants.
“That’s the problem for the people in this sport, especially UFC because UFC doesn’t respect the legacy that fighters have. They try to use you and kick you out,” Silva said. “And when you’re out, they try to destroy your career [so] you don’t fight anywhere. This happened [to] a lot of fighters. People don’t think about that.
“I had a good time in UFC, and bad times too. The bad time for me is the experience I have behind the scenes. But inside the cage, inside the fight, I do my best. It’s the only time I have control. Outside I don’t have control.”
Silva Said He Made More Money in His Return to Boxing Than His Last 3 UFC Fights
The Spider made his transition from MMA to boxing in 2021. Last June, he took on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the former UFC middleweight king defeated the ex-WBC middleweight champion by split decision.
According to Silva, he earned more money for that contest than his last three Octagon appearances combined.
“In my fight in Mexico [against Julio Cesar Chaves, Jr. in 2021], I made more money than my last three fights in MMA,” Silva revealed. “I don’t like to talk about the bad, and people say, ‘Oh now you’re out of UFC and you talk bad s*** about [them].’ It was good for me sometimes and it was good for UFC too. It’s done it’s over. But it’s important I say that, everything I say about the situation because this is what happened to me.”
Source: Heavy
