LY: SILVA DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO WALK AWAY

By: Allan Ly
RP Show Intern

One of the greatest fighters in Mixed Martial Arts History, Anderson “The Spider Silva”, announced May 12 that he is likely done with MMA.

All of this was reported by ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, who wrote an article based on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani interview of Silva.

“I think MMA for me is done,” Silva told Helwani. “Because it’s hard to train MMA. It’s hard to stay training in a good level because you hurt yourself a lot. Now I just try to enjoy. I don’t need to prove nothing for anybody. I just try to enjoy every single moment I fight in different sports. And that’s it.”

This news is unfortunate for Silva, a legend in the sports with Mixed Martial Arts, but his MMA records show this might be time to do so.

According to the UFC stats website, from 2013-2020, Silva participated in 9 fights, losing seven, winning one and one no contest.

That no contest was against Nick Diaz in 2015, where Silva won the fight, but it was overturned to a no-contest because, according to Abhishek Nair of Sportskeeda, both fighters failed a drug test after the fight.

Silva’s only win from 2013-2020 came in 2017 when he beat Derek Brunson via unanimous decision at the UFC 208 fight card.

Where does Anderson Silva rank on the Mount Rushmore as one of the best fighters of all time?

I honestly do not think he should be considered one of the Greatest Of All Time in the business because at the end of his career he lost all of these matches and tarnished his legacy.

Silva’s last fight was a year ago against Uriah Hall, October 31, 2020, and he lost the fight in the fourth round, and UFC President Dana White was not impressed.

 “I knew I was right, and tonight proved I was right. Anderson Silva should never fight again,” said White after the fight, which was reported by Damon Martin of MMA fighting.

Silva would be considered the goat if he retired prior to 2013, according to UFC Stats website from 2006-2012; Silva won 17 in a row and was the king of the middleweight division.

Those were the times when I got into UFC, where fighters like Geroge St-Pierre, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Anderson Silva looked like superheroes to me.

Recently retired Russian Lightweight fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has a better claim to be the best of all time.

Nurmagomedov is undefeated at 29 wins and beat the stacked lightweight division with Connor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.

The person who currently fights in the UFC, who has the best chance for greatness, is Kamaru Usman, the current UFC Welterweight Champion and is undefeated in the UFC.

According to the UFC Stats website, Usman is on a four-fight title defence and is four wins away from GSP’s UFC record of eight Welterweight title defences.

For Silva, the mystique and power of the Spider went away after his continuous losing streak that began in 2013.

It is as if the superhero that you always looked up to was just some regular person after all.

Silva is not done with fighting though, as he is booked to face off against boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on June 19 in a boxing match.

We will see if Silva can repair his legacy to what it once was and return to the power of “The Spider.”

(Follow Allan on Twitter at @AllanTheIntern)