Before USADA became a presence in the UFC, there was a long stretch where Anderson Silva was considered by many, if not most, to be the greatest fighter of all time. After Silva failed drug tests in connection to his UFC 183 bout against Nick Daz, Silva’s name became downgraded. After his second USADA violation in 2017, Silva was now an afterthought in GOAT conversations for a wide number of fans across the MMA community. But while Silva’s defense was not accepted in his first run-in with USADA, this time, it has been determined that Silva did, in fact, take a tainted supplement. Wednesday, Silva shared what he believes this now means for his legacy:
“I can’t change people’s opinions,” the former middleweight king said to MMA Fighting. “I can go after the truth, like I did, and prove the truth. That’s what I’ve done. Changing people’s opinions, I can’t change that. I have my truth, and that’s what matters to me, to my family, and to everyone around me.
“I have my fans in the sport. To me, B.J. Penn will continue being the best of all time. He’s someone I admire a lot, I have a huge respect for him. And ‘Minotauro’ (Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira), man. These two guys are super heroes of this sport. I can’t talk about me, it’s hard to talk about yourself. I have my history, my legacy, and will continue doing my job, and who knows, one day, when I stop fighting, I can give you a better answer.”
That begs the question, when exactly will be the day when the 43-year-old calls it quits? Though the legend did not give a direct answer when presented this question, he supplied the number of fights remaining on his contract, which may later turn out to be the magic number of fights remaining in The Spider’s Hall of Fame career:
“I believe I still have three fights in my contract.”
As of now, Silva has no ideas of whom he will be facing next in the Octagon. But regardless of his age, whenever Silva fights, the MMA community continues to draw to a standstill in reverence of one of the greatest to ever do it.
Do you think Anderson Silva should be discussed in the GOAT conversations?
