Anderson Silva, once again, is facing speculation as to when he will decide to hang up his gloves after falling to defeat — his sixth in his last eight fights — to Jared Cannonier at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday night.

The Brazilian middleweight, once considered to be the sport’s undisputed best pound-for-pound fighter, has appeared a shadow of the dominant fighter he once was as age and a career’s worth of injuries begin to take their toll — the latest of which occurred when he jarred his knee from a Cannonier leg-kick, leading to the end of the fight.

Silva remains undaunted though, at least according to a statement he issued on social media in the wake of the defeat.

“Until the limit, pain is your friend. It shows you’re not dead yet,” Silva wrote, as translated by lowkickmma. “They say that great symbols become great targets. Maybe. But the most important thing is not to victimize yourself. If you fall, get up. If it’s broken, fix it. No giving up or thinking that you can’t because you lost one battle.

“The saying is, I’m going until the end and the more they pressure me, the more I’ll want to to go until the end. There’s nothing more wild than feeling sorry for yourself. An old lion, surrounded by hungry hyenas, crazy to eat him, and he stills fights until death without ever giving up or feeling sorry for himself. And it won’t be different with me. Strength and honor.”

 

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Fala meu povo. ATE O LIMITE… A dor é sua amiga … Ela mostra que vc não esta morto ainda. Dizem por aí que grandes símbolos tornam-se grandes alvos, talvez… mas a coisa mais importante é não se vitimizar se caiu levante, se quebrou conserte, nada de desistir ou achar que não consegue porque perdeu uma batalha. O ditado e um só, eu vou até o fim e quanto mais me pressionarem mas eu vou querer ir até o fim, não existe nada selvagem que sinta pena de si mesmo, um leão velho rodeado de hienas famintas loucas para devora-lo e ele mesmo assim luta até a morte sem nunca ter sentido pena de si mesmo, e não será diferente comigo!!!! Foça e Honra!!!

A post shared by Anderson “The Spider” Silva (@spiderandersonsilva) on May 12, 2019 at 3:16pm PDT

“I don’t think we’ll ever see Anderson Silva fight again. He certainly doesn’t need to” –@bisping (via @sportscenter) pic.twitter.com/sOtdE2pZSt

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 12, 2019

Michael Bisping, the former middleweight champion and former opponent of Silva, has spoken of his desire for ‘The Spider’ to call it a day.

Speaking on ESPN, he said: “Anderson Silva is a true legend of the sport. He’s given so much, a longtime champion, but he’s 44 years old. A lot of people wondered, ‘Why is he still fighting?’ I think tonight, even though he looked OK, the fight obviously ended. He took an inside leg kick and I think that he tore his ACL. I don’t think we’ll ever see Anderson Silva fight again. He certainly doesn’t need to. Father Time has caught him up. With the greatest of respect, Anderson Silva needs to retire. He’s already given so much to this sport. He doesn’t need to give anymore. Enjoy retirement.”