UFC 237 was supposed to celebrate Anderson Silva‘s homecoming to his native Brazil in his first fight there since 2012, but things didn’t go as planned for “The Spider.” Although Silva appeared to be in incredible physical shape for his middleweight bout against Jared Cannonier, things took a turn for the worse when he suffered a brutal leg injury late in the first round after getting kicked in the knee by Cannonier, causing the fight to be stopped via TKO. Silva, who is 44, had to be helped out of the cage, and at this point his future in fighting is up in the air.
This, of course, isn’t the first time we’ve seen Silva suffer a leg injury, the first being when Chris Weidman broke Silva’s leg in the pair’s rematch back in 2013 at UFC 168. The fact that Silva has suffered yet another injury to his legs should be a telltale sign that maybe the sport has passed him by. There’s no doubt he’s one of the greatest fighters to have ever stepped into the Octagon, but nearing 45 years of age now, having suffered numerous injuries throughout his career, perhaps it’s time he hung up his gloves for good.
Silva has nothing left to prove in the sport. We all recognize him as an all-time great, one of the best to ever do it. But at this point, it appears his pride is getting in the way of telling him that it’s time to go. Sure, the money is still good, but he’s already made a ton of money in his career. Now he’s just risking getting seriously injured. The fact that he couldn’t even make it through five minutes in this fight should tell him that it’s time to seriously consider retirement. He’s already one of the best ever, but he is just tarnishing his legacy by refusing to give it up.
Silva has done everything. He’s proven he’s one of the best fighters in the world, he’s helped make the sport popular, and he’s helped contribute to the next wave of Brazilian fighters coming up. He was one of the best champions the UFC ever had, and one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever seen. But he doesn’t need to do this anymore. We don’t need to see him get hurt anymore. It’s time that Silva sits down with his team and talks about his future, because it really seems like the right thing to do right now is to step away from the game with his wits still about him.
If this is the end for Anderson Silva, I was lucky enough to at least see him step into the cage in Brazil live in person. Even if it didn’t go the way anyone had planned, it was still incredible to see him in that atmosphere. But even the fans in Brazil know that at this point the end is near. No one wants to see Silva in uncompetitive fights, and at this point it’s hard to see him beating anyone in the middleweight division. He’s had an amazing career, but his time in the sport appears to be over. Now it will be up to him to admit to himself that he can no longer do this. Silva has nothing left to prove in MMA, and the right thing for him to do is hang up his gloves for good and move on to the next chapter of his career, as an ambassador for MMA and the UFC in Brazil and all over the world.
 UFC 237 • Anderson Silva vs. Jared Cannonier: Jared Cannonier defeats Anderson Silva via TKO (kick) at 4:47 of Round 1. |
 UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade took place May 11, 2019 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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