After Anderson Silva broke his leg in his last fight, many believed the former longtime UFC middleweight champion was at the tail-end of his storied career. But "The Spider" doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon and agreed to a new 15-fight contract with the UFC last week.
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Silva is scheduled to make his return to the octagon on Jan. 31 in a highly anticipated bout against fan-favorite Nick Diaz. He previously had eight fights on his contract including that one. Reports say Silva had dinner with UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta in Rio de Janeiro last Thursday and agreed to the new deal.
"I had seven fights on my contract (after the Diaz fight). I met Lorenzo and Dana on Thursday and that contract was canceled. We signed for another 15 fights," Silva told Combate, according to MMAFighting.com. "To make Dana crazy, I signed for 15 more fights. And to make my family crazy, too."
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Fans of mixed martial arts are definitely excited at the thought of seeing arguably the greatest fighter of all-time fight 15 more times. But what does this new contract mean for Silva's career?
At 39 years old, Silva has already accomplished a lot in the sport and holds multiple UFC records, including most consecutive wins and consecutive title defenses. He completely dominated the middleweight division until running into current champion Chris Weidman, who he lost to twice in 2013. So is Silva looking to make another run at 185 pounds, or is a move to the light heavyweight division in his future?
Silva will fight Diaz at 185 pound, but it would make sense for him to start competing at 205 pounds in the future. As he gets older, the weight-cut to 185 doesn't get any easier. Even though there are strong up-and-coming fighters in the middleweight division, none of them have the name recognition to draw significant fan interest if booked for a fight against Silva.
The 205-pound division, on the other hand, has a slew of stars who will all pose legitimate tests to Silva. Of course, there is the potential "super fight" against champion Jon Jones, but if Silva chooses to work his way up the ladder he will run into strong contenders like Daniel Cormier, Alexander Gustafsson and Rashad Evans, among many more.
Silva has dabbled at light heavyweight in the past. He defeated James Irvin in 2008 and then completely embarrassed former 205-pound champion Forrest Griffin in 2011. He also absolutely dominated fan-favorite Stephan Bonnar in 2012, which turned out to be his last win in the octagon before losing his title to Weidman.
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