Anderson Silva is undoubtably one of the greatest mixed martial arts (MMA) practitioners of all time, however, due to developments over the past few years his legacy has come under a ton of scrutiny.
Back in January of 2015 Silva made his return from his grizzly leg injury against Chris Weidman at UFC 168, when he took on former UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz in a middleweight contest in the main event of UFC 183.
Originally the bout was ruled a unanimous decision win for "The Spider," however, that was short-lived.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) test results from the fight returned a shocking result for one of the most respected fighters of all time. Silva tested positive for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).
His win over Diaz was overturned to a No Contest and he was subsequently handed a one-year suspension. Silva returned to fight Michael Bisping in February of 2016 but lost via unanimous decision.
He then stepped in at UFC 200 for Jon Jones, who had some USADA troubles of his own, to take on UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. Cormier defeated the Brazilian by unanimous decision.
Silva's last fight took place in February of last year when won a controversial unanimous decision over Derek Brunson. Silva was scheduled to make his return to the Octagon this past November against Kelvin Gastelum in China.
Unfortunately Silva's pre-fight test from USADA turned back positive yet again for a banned substance, and he was removed from the highly-anticipated match-up. Currently any punishment from the incident has yet to be announced.
The 42-year-old's career has been called into question with his recent failure and some fans believe we may have seen the last of him inside the Octagon.
Silva took to Instagram to silence these rumors and declared he has every intention of fighting in the UFC again:
“Thank you, my people!” Silva wrote. “You can be sure it’s not over yet. My love and my passion for the fight are here, firm and strong.
"The fight continues, I will stop when GOD thinks I can not do it anymore.
"So who is my fan, can be sure, that soon I’m back, to the joy of those who cheer for me and to the sadness of those who don’t.”
What are your thoughts on Silva's comments in which he indicates that he plans on fighting once again? Do you think that we'll see "The Spider" back inside of the Octagon soon? And what do you make of the Brazilian's legacy after two failed USADA tests? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below!
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