Anderson Silva is a UFC Hall of Famer, and he’s universally hailed as one of the greatest fighters of all-time, but he didn’t love the way his time in the UFC came to an end.
That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White, who addressed Silva’s exit from the promotion after he lost seven of his final nine fights including three in a row prior to his release. Silva exited the UFC but never stopped fighting as he turned his attention boxing where he’s scored wins over names like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Tyron
Woodley with his only loss coming in a decision to Jake Paul.
But White was adamant that Silva’s time in the UFC was done after he suffered a knockout loss to Uriah Hall back in 2020 and that decision fractured their relationship forever.
“Anderson Silva, he was always a unique individual to deal with, but he lost like 8 or 9 or 10 in a row, something like that,” White told Rolling Stone. “That guy won’t talk to me to this day. Because I said it’s over and he was in his 40s.
“His thing was ‘who are you to tell me that I’m done doing what I love to do?’ [I told him] it’s over. Obviously they can go fight [somewhere else] and he did. He went and fought a boxing match and he fought a bunch of other fights. He can still fight. You just can’t do it here.”
Now 51 years old and training to become a police officer, Silva has admitted his career has likely slowed down to the point where he only has a couple of fights left.
But obviously Silva wanted to make that decision for himself and White’s brutal honestly apparently didn’t sit well with him.
White says that’s not the only uncomfortable conversation he’s had with a fighter before when it comes to whether or not they should continue competing much less doing it in the UFC.
“Even guys that were really good but it’s at the end,” White said. “I’m like it’s time for them to hang it up. They get mad and they get upset. Some of these guys never talk to me again.”
Most fighters acknowledge a similar philosophy that they want to retire from the sport and not have the sport retire them but there’s a multitude of reasons why so many exit the UFC after multiple losses in a row.
White believes deep down every fighter wants to leave on top but there are so few who actually exit the UC off a win much less going out as a champion.
“Very few actually leave the way that [Jon Jones] or Georges St-Pierre or some of the greats have,” White said. “On so many different levels. First of all the money. One more paycheck. Let me get one more paycheck.
“Then it’s imagine being at that level and walking out of the tunnel at [Madison Square Garden] with 22,000 people going crazy and you don’t know it’s over until you actually get in there and you can’t pull the trigger the way you used to and you get beat.”
