“I Need to Say Thank You to Vitor” – Anderson Silva Grateful for Rivalry With Vitor Belfort

Anderson Silva could be making his last walk to the octagon this weekend. ‘The Spider’ has been a dominant force in the UFC for many years. However, at 45 years of age, this could be the last time we see Silva perform in the UFC.

Over the years, the former middleweight king has been one of the stars at the promotion. Silva’s elite striking has left a lot of spectacular moments inside the octagon.

Silva’s style has always been fan-friendly, especially so with the iconic drop of the hands while he avoided his opponent’s punches with unbelievable head movement. Silva would go on a 16 fight win streak in the UFC, claiming the middleweight title in only his second fight in the promotion.

Silva will face Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 12 in the Middleweight division this weekend. Ahead of his potential last fight, Silva sat down with Kevin Iole from Yahoo Sports.

Iole asked Silva about his highlight finishes in the promotion, most notably the Vitor Belfort fight. ‘The Spider’ said, “I think the fight with Vitor is very special because the moment the fight happened, everything has changed in the world and especially my country.”

Silva continued, “This fight opened a lot of doors for Brazilian fighters and made the sport more popular in Brazil. I need to say thank you to Vitor because Vitor has fought in UFC for a long time and he had a huge story inside the UFC.”

Anderson Silva thanks Vitor Belfort

‘The Spider’ believed that Belfort gave him his greatest moment within the cage. As a result, he offered his thanks to the fans to his opponent and the new generation that grew up and got inspired by the fight. Silva concluded, “For people watching and say ‘Wow’, the best fighters come inside the cage and do your best.”

Anderson Silva made his UFC debut in 2006 and has gone on to become a true legend of the sport. His name regularly features on the list for the most insane finishes of all time. Furthermore, ‘The Spider’ also holds the record for the longest title reign in the UFC as he held the middleweight title for 2,457 days, starting in 2006 going on till 2013.

‘The Spider’ holds wins over legends of the sport such as Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Demian Maia, and Chael Sonnen. Anderson Silva has been a gift to MMA fans around the world, and this weekend could be his last ever fight before sailing off into the sunset. He would dearly love to add Uriah Hall to the aforementioned list on Saturday.

Also Read : 5 Things You Need to Know About Anderson Silva