Advertisement
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. David Becker

Former UFC champion aborts his plans to compete in next year's Olympics

Anderson Silva wanted to represent Brazil at Rio 2016.

IT APPEARS THAT Anderson Silva now won’t be part of the Brazilian team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The former UFC middleweight champion announced his intention to try out for Brazil’s taekwondo team for the Games back in April. But according to his manager, Silva has now changed his mind.

Silva is currently serving an indefinite suspension, which was handed down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission when it emerged that the 40-year-old MMA legend tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs — both before and after his UFC 183 win over Nick Diaz in January. ‘The Spider’ is scheduled to have an official NSAC hearing on 7 August.

Jorge Guimaraes, Silva’s manager, told PVT: “This Olympic thing has been discarded. Anderson won’t participate in the Olympics. He’s now waiting for the Athletic Commission’s verdict, which should come soon.

“We are waiting, we’ll see if there’s going to be a punishment and how long it will be. He’s training, Anderson never stops training. He’s staying active.”

Translation via MMAFighting.com

‘I haven’t shown anything close to my best in the UFC yet’ – Pendred

‘Step your game up!’ – Michael Bisping has a message for Conor McGregor

Author
Paul Dollery
View comments
Close
Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.