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20/03/09 - Exclusive: Anderson might not retire at 35
Anderson Silva has repeatedly stated an intention to retire at the age of 35 and he will reach that milestone in April next year.
But his manager recently told Fighters Only that Silva may not in fact quit fighting after his 35th birthday, although he would like to have the option to do so.
“I think we’re going to cross that bridge when it comes. When we first started to represent Anderson, when we brought him in to fight in the UFC, I asked him what his long-term goal was and one of his goals was to retire at 35 years old,” Ed Soares explained. “He’s about 14 months away from turning 35.”
“As his manager… whether he retires at 35 or not is going to be up to him, but to be able to have the option to retire, myself as a manager that is my goal now, to be able to… take the right steps in his career for him at 35 years old to have the option to retire if he would like to. “
“Is he going to retire? Its hard to say right now. I personally don’t think so, but I would like for him to be in a position, when he is 35, to have the option. “
Silva began his professional mixed martial arts career nearly ten years ago, and has also fought in professional Muay Thai and boxing matches.
He has a record of 23-4 and is undefeated in his eight fights with the UFC. He took the middleweight belt from Rich Franklin in his second fight for the organisation and inflicted another hard defeat on the ex-champion in their rematch.
His next fight is a defence of his title against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites at UFC 97, which will be Silva’s fifth defence of the belt.
John Joe O’Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
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