After an historic career, Anderson Silva will call it quits on Saturday.
The UFC veteran has confirmed that his main event fight against Uriah Hall will indeed be his last in the company. The 45-year-old has been fighting professionally since 1997; however, Silva rose to prominence in the division thanks to his stunning knockout win over Rich Franklin.
Silva would go on to successfully defend the UFC Middleweight title ten times, a record for the 185-pound division. On Tuesday, following his long tenure with the UFC, Anderson confirmed with MMA Junkie that he’ll officially wrap up his career this Saturday:
“This is the last fight,” Silva said. “For sure, this is the last fight. Probably. I love the sport. I’ve prepared my mind for this. I’ve prepared for fight my entire life, but yes, this is my last fight in UFC.”
As with any fighter who decides to walk away from the profession that they’ve nearly dedicated their whole life to, the decision to hang up the gloves wasn’t an easy one:
“I think (I’ll miss) the training (the most),” Silva said. “Preparing my mind, preparing my body. This I think is most important and I feel sad because I don’t have this anymore. This is the last one.”
Silva touches on his fight against Hall and views this as a good match-up between two strikers:
“I can’t say, ‘Oh, this fight goes to the ground, this fight is done in the standup,'” Silva said. “It’s two good strikers. Uriah’s a very, very athletic guy and has a good technique in the striking and I try to do my best. I try do to the best show for my fans.”
Hall and Silva are scheduled to headline the UFC Vegas 12 event that starts at 7pm Eastern Time. That show will also feature Andre Fili vs. Bryce Mitchell and Kevin Holland vs. Makhmud Muradov.