Anderson Silva: Injury was a signal from God
Anderson Silva on the injury: “God gave me a signal there: ‘Dude, you gotta stop. You have to stop. I gave you a sign; you didn’t understand…’”
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva spoke recently with Catherine Wagley for Citizen of Humanity apparel brand magazine, and discussed his faith, among other topics.
It began with the moment he broke his leg fighting new division champion Chris Weidman. A man of deep faith, he views the catastrophic injury as a life lesson.
I don’t remember much about fights, said Silva. It happens very fast. But this match, when I suffered the injury, I remember certain things perfectly.
I was preoccupied with holding my leg, but I held it in a lot of pain, and my trainer, Rogério Camões, and Ed Soares, my manager, came. When they allowed my manager in, I still remember I said: ‘Boss, why did God allow this to happen to me? Why did God do this to me?’ In that moment, I thought it was all over. I was in a state of shock. I was worried about my family. I was worried about my leg, if I would walk again, train again, if I could fight again. A thousand things came to mind.
I lost the first time due to lack of focus. Because I was thinking of other things, because I was unhappy with myself within what I was doing in my sport and disappointed even with the organizers of fighting, and the downfalls of celebrity and fighting itself.
The second fight, I was completely ready for. God gave me a signal there: ‘Dude, you gotta stop. You have to stop. I gave you a sign; you didn’t understand…’ But more than that, it was about being able to see yourself, to see yourself, which is very hard, and realize, ‘Darn, I’ve been doing everything wrong.’
I didn’t have time to live my life, my reality, which was to be with my kids, to be with my family… People don’t care if you’re injured, if your head is in the right place. They want you to make it happen; the show must go on, and it has to be real. But this isn’t real. For me, it was never real. The system takes away the truth from you, takes fighting away from you as something you love.
One fight or two can’t define the human being, or the man. What defines you is your attitude as a friend, as a brother, as a father, as a son, as a citizen. This, yes, defines me as a person.
I still don’t know if I’m ready and if I can do what I did with such excellence before.”
This thing, being a champio. I can’t say that I don’t miss it sometimes… but when I started fighting, you just went there, fought, won if you won. Tomorrow it was all over, water under the bridge. All the victories I always had, the successful results I obtained, were always based on this: I go there, I fight, it’s over. I win, it’s over. I lift my arm, I go home. I lift my arm, it’s over. And then back to the start again.