Anderson “The Spider” Silva’s descent continues as the former UFC middleweight title holder has been suspended for a year and fined $380,000 for failing a drug test at UFC 183. UFC 183 was in January 2015 but Silva had appealed his suspension. However, on Thursday the Nevada Athletic Commission voted unanimously today to suspend the “Spider” for one year. According to MMAFighting.com he was fined all $200,00 that he got as a win bonus. As well as 30% of the $600,000 show earnings. The biggest part of it was that his win over Nick Diaz was changed from a win to a no contest.
The suspension comes after he failed two tests; one was an out of competition on January 9th prior to the fight and then on January 31st, fight night. “The Spider” once again denied that he knowingly took the substances on Thursday. His lawyer, Michael Alonso, said the failed drug tests could be attributed to a bad sexual enhancement suplement. Silva backed up this claim by blaming it on the substance that was purchased in Thailand and given to him by his friend Marco Fernandes because, according to MMAFighting.com, he was unable to purchase it in America or Brazil, Silva’s home country.
The collapse of Anderson Silva was unprecedented. Recently, he was easily the greatest fighter in the world and was riding a 16 consecutive win, 10 title defenses streak prior to UFC 162 where he faced American Chris Weidman, who knocked him out. After that Weidman and Silva had a rematch and Weidman again won, and in one of the leg checks, broke Silva’s left tibia and fibula.
Nevada Athletic Commission Commissioner Anthony Marnell said, “I don't know any other way to say it, but I don't feel like we're getting the whole story. I'm not going to say that's a lie. I'm not going to say you're not telling the truth under oath. But I'm not getting the whole picture here. I'm not taking anything away from Mr. Silva's career. I think he's done excellent things. He's by far one of the top fighters in the world. But this is the first time he's really been subject to enhanced testing, so it's hard to put a lot of credibility into his prior test results -- not his career, but his prior test results. ... I feel that there's some intention here to use a product to come back from a devastating injury. I feel that. I'm not saying that's it, but I've got that feeling in my stomach that we're not getting the whole story. There's definitely knowledge of what's going on here, and we're just playing games. Hence my frustration for the last two hours with all of this soft testimony."
It will definitely be interesting to see how a 40-year-old, and in April 2016, 41-year-old Anderson Silva will fight, if he does fight. It would not be out of the question to ask if he will fight again or just retire.
