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Nobuyuki Sakakibara would like to help Anderson Silva ‘fulfill his wishes’
Anderson Silva is one of MMA’s most notable legends and champions. And after 14 long years as a member of the UFC roster, he has been released.
“The Spider” most recently headlined what many believed could have been his final fight when he took on Uriah Hall. At UFC Vegas 12 on October 31, Silva was finished in the fourth round via strikes. Thus extending his losing streak to three and dropping his overall record to 34-11 (1 NC).
At a time, Silva was seemingly unstoppable as he racked up win after win to capture the record for the longest winning streak in UFC history with 16. That’s just one of 11 UFC accolades that belong to Silva.
Now, the former middleweight king awaits what’s next for him as he recently took to Instagram to share that he still has an interest in competing. Since the recent loss to Hall, several of MMA’s top organizations such as Bellator, ONE Championship, and PFL have already expressed their disinterest in bringing the legend in. Even BareKnuckle FC which has swooped up several older notable names in MMA doesn’t appear to be interested.
Well, don’t rule out a return to Japan for the legend just yet.
RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara discusses updated rules ahead of RIZIN 24
“I have great memories with Anderson Silva during the PRIDE days and in my personal opinion, I think his career took off in Japan,” RIZIN FF Founder and President Nobuyuki Sakakibara told MyMMANews. “I have heard that Japan has a special part in his heart as well. I do feel that I would like to help him fulfill his wishes out of respect for what he has accomplished and what he has done for our sport. I haven’t talked to him yet but I would be interested to see if we can come up with something that makes sense for him to start his final chapter in Japan.”
Prior to Silva’s historic UFC run, he fought five times for the now-defunct PRIDE FC which was run by RIZIN’s Sakakibara. The Curitiba native went 3-2 under the banner.
Despite his hopes in helping the legend, the RIZIN boss isn’t necessarily interested in having him compete in Japan’s premier MMA organization in which Sakakibara helms. But time will tell what the future holds for one of MMA’s all-time greats.
