Anderson Silva has knee surgery, plans on fighting final two fights on UFC contract

UFC middleweight legend Anderson Silva underwent surgery on his right knee and he plans on fighting the last two fights on his contract upon his return.

Silva has not fought in a year since losing to Jared Cannonier via injury TKO last May at UFC 237. Now 45 years old, Silva is currently the oldest fighter on the UFC roster. Despite his age and the ugly losing skid he’s endured over the last few years, “The Spider” still has the itch to fight again and won’t let his surgery get in the way.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that Silva underwent a stem cell procedure on his right knee. He plans to take two weeks off of training but when he returns to the gym he hopes to train for his next fight. Silva says he has two fights left on his UFC deal and he plans on honoring them, though Helwani was quick to point out no opponent has been mentioned.

Recovery will be short — they said probably two weeks — and he will resume training afterwards. He has two fights left on his deal and wants to honor those and then will assess his future. No fight lined up yet. (📷 @jgjoia)

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 6, 2020

Anderson Silva, 45, underwent a Regenerative Stem Cell Procedure on his right knee today. This had been planned with his medical team for a while, and according to his team, he was looking for a good time to take 2 weeks off his training regimen to undergo the Stem Cell procedure

Recovery will be short — they said probably two weeks — and he will resume training afterwards. He has two fights left on his deal and wants to honor those and then will assess his future. No fight lined up yet.

Silva recently did an interview in Brazil and said that he planned on retiring back in 2012, but UFC president Dana White and former UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta convinced him to fight again against Chris Weidman. Silva would go on to lose by KO to Weidman at UFC 162 and he hasn’t been the same since, going 1-6, 1 NC over his last eight fights, snapping his record-setting 16-fight win streak, back when he was the kingpin of the UFC middleweight division and the consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA.

Who do you want to see Anderson Silva fight next?