Despite his status as one of the all-time greats of the sport, many of the leading promotions have been surprisingly quick to turn their back on the idea of signing 45-year-old Anderson Silva after being released by the UFC recently.
After the likes of Bellator, PFL, ONE FC and even BKFC confirmed they weren’t interested in signing the former long-time middleweight champion, one big promotion have finally signaled their interest, with Rizin’s Nobuyuki Sakakibara throwing his hat into the ring.
“I have great memories with Anderson Silva during the PRIDE days and in my personal opinion, I think his career took off in Japan,” Sakakibara said in a statement.
“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.”
Still, it remains to be seen whether the two parties would be able to come to terms, with Silva still likely to command a large fee despite only having claim one win and a draw from his last nine fights.
