The greatest middleweight champion of the UFC, Anderson Silva is not planning to retire in the sport of MMA. Dana White said in the post-fight that UFC released Silva from the promotion and would slam the promoter that would take him.
Silva suffered a brutal loss against Uriah Hall, the way he lost was sad to see for UFC fans. There was a time in Silva’s prime that he was the best of his era, most of his wins ended in a stoppage. Most promoters want him as he was that good.
As of this moment, Silva has no interest in retiring and is still looking for promoters who would take him up. UFC is the premier league in MMA but there are still other big promoters that could have the money to pay him.
Major promoters like Bellator, ONE FC (Asia), and PFL are not interested in taking up Anderson Silva’s free agency which means a lot. Bellator is known for getting fighters that UFC releases like Corey Anderson, Rory Macdonald, Ryan Bader, and other fighters.
Bellator also signs old fighters that are way out of their prime. Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson, and Fedor are all past their prime but still signed by Bellator. Whatever the reason is, it seems strange.
ONE FC on the other hand has a huge roster in Asia. They recently got Demetrious Johnson, John Lineker, Eddie Alvarez, Sage Northcutt, and others. Vitor Belfort who was also an old UFC fighter even got signed and is planning his debut in the near future.
The other promoter that is willing to pay big money was BKFC or Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. BKFC recently got UFC fighter Paige Vanzant. Vanzant although not successful in her UFC career is popular among casual fans. Vanzant is known for her looks and charisma out the cage which may attract fans for the promotion.
Another fighter that BKFC got was Artem Lobov who has not got a good record but still comes in to fight. Lobov is the teammate of Conor Mcgregor which might have played a factor in him joining the UFC.
Lobov and Vanzant’s reason why they left for BKFC was because of the huge pay difference. Lobov said the difference is huge. Although in BKFC, they fight bare-knuckle which means that the fighters are prone to cuts. That is not good in the long run since it creates scar tissues.
The BKFC passed on Anderson Silva’s free agency as well, which is strange. Almost all the MMA promotions are not interested in Silva. It may be a sign of respect or salary issues but no announcement as of this moment.
At one point, Anderson Silva was one of the biggest stars in the UFC. The only star that rivaled him might be George St Pierre and Jon Jones. He had a mystique to his game that made him look invincible but as they say, Father Time is undefeated.
Silva is way past his prime and needs to retire. He is one of the highest-paid UFC fighters of all time so he may not need money. Silva indicated that he just loves the sport so much that he can’t retire or maybe he is aiming to retire with a win in his record.
