If you can keep track of Anderson Silva’s wildly inconsistent career trajectory -- he’s a heavyweight, a light-heavyweight, he’s entering the women’s division, he’ll fight ten little people in Costa Rica -- you must have the patience of a Saint. Now comes word that Silva plans to retire in the division he’s owned for the past several years: middleweight.
“There are still some tough fighters at 185,” Silva told Fighter’s Only. “I’d go up in class if Lyoto [Machida] wasn’t the title holder and [Rogerio Nogueira] wasn’t coming over. But today my problem is in my division where I want to finish my career, and that is what really matters.”
Silva, who previously appeared cool to the idea of rematching Dan Henderson, now calls him a “great fighter” and a “very good challenge.” If Silva is unwilling to face friends at 205 lbs. and unable to match the physiques of the heavyweight monsters, focusing on one class is probably in everyone’s better interests.