Anderson Silva will fight Israel Adesanya this weekend at UFC 234 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Australia.
Unfortunately, UFC President Dana White believes that if Adesanya is able to knock out Anderson Silva, Silva can consider his career over.
“I don’t know. I would probably imagine [it would be the end]. But, who knows with this guy.”
With Silva about to turn 44 years old, it’s a possibility that all involved will have to consider. However, White believes that Silva is too much of a champion at heart to bow out with a loss. It’s possible, White says, that he may pick another fight even if knocked out.
However, White won’t rule out a middleweight title shot for the Brazilian if Silva wins. As it is, the Middleweight belt will feature at UFC 234 in the main event. The current Middleweight title holder is Robert Whittaker, who will fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234. Should Silva win his match, it’s possible that he’ll face the winner of the Whittaker-Gastelum match.
Regardless, White believes Anderson Silva is a shoe-in for the UFC Hall of Fame.
Silva is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. His career began in 1997 in his native country of Brazil. In 2002, he signed with Pride Fighting Championships and eventually signed with Cage Rage. From there, Silva signed with the UFC, and fought at Ultimate Fight Night 5 on 28 June 2006. This was his first fight with the UFC.
Silva went on to have the longest title run in UFC history at 2,457 days. This started in 2006 and ended in 2013. It also included a UFC record 16 consecutive victories in that span.
In 2015, Anderson Silva tested positive for two steroids. As punishment, Silva had to submit to a fine of his full win bonus, as well as 30{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9} of his show money, totaling $380,000. His victory was overturned to a no contest.
Despite his troubles, White really believes Silva deserves to be enshrined in MMA lore.
