Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has been asked several times over the past few years why he continues to fight.
Silva returns to the Octagon on Saturday night at UFC 208, taking on Derek Brunson in the co-main event.
For “The Spider,” there is more to his desire to compete than just winning and losing.
“My great motivator is first, I love fighting,” he said. Second, I see a lot of fighters stop their career and go to different jobs and different sports and never stay happy. Now, I have a different career, but it’s interesting because I love both. This is more important. When you love your job, you stay happy. When you stay happy, everything comes better.
“It’s very important to win, but it’s more important to me to stay happy. This is part of my life. This is me. I love to fight.”
Silva is coming off a short-notice loss to Daniel Cormier last July at UFC 200 and has not won a fight since knocking out Stephan Bonnar in 2012.
