Silva: I need to talk with my family about fighting or retiring
Anderson Silva: “I need to talk to my family. I love my job. This is me. I love fight. But I need to talk to my family, because this is more important to my life now.”
On Saturday night at UFC 183 former middleweight champion Anderson Silva came back 13 months after horrifically breaking his leg, to defeat Nick Diaz. Afterwards he collapsed to the mat in tears. In a beautiful moment, Nick Diaz helped get him up and offered consoling words. Then Silva went back to the locker room and spoke with his son Khalil, 17.
“My son talked to me serious,” said Silva at the post-fight press conference as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting. “When I talked to my son, my son cried. ‘Dad, stop, please. Back home. Please. You don’t need more fights.'”
“I’m very happy, so yeah. It’s my mission. My coach say you have the mission tonight. You need to win. You need to win, because your people in Brazil are waiting for this.”
“I need to talk to my family. I love my job. This is me. I love fight. But I need to talk to my family, because this is more important to my life now.”
Silva was asked if the choice was his alone, would be retire? He said if it was his choice alone, he probably would. But that it was not his choice alone.
“I love my job,” said Silva. “I love UFC. When my son talked to me, I’m a little scared.”
UFC president Dana White said with a win, Silva would get a title shot. However, in a recebt interview with Globo, Silva, 39, said he needed two or three more wins first. So does Silva fight on or not? We don’t know. And if he does fight on, will it be for the title? We don’t know.
And that’s okay – he’s Anderson Silva.