Anderson Silva's next fight against Nick Diaz is already expected to be the "best of all time". The former UFC middleweight champion also admitted that he never considered retirement despite his gruesome injury last year.

Anderson Silva's next fight is scheduled for UFC 183 on January 31, 2015 in Las Vegas. Billed as a "super fight", the former pound-for-pound king of MMA will be squaring off against Stockton, California's bad boy, Nick Diaz.

With the fight still more than five months away, "The Spider" already has high expectations for his Octagon return after being shelved for more than a year due to a broken leg injury he suffered at UFC 168 in December 2013.

"I believe that it's going to be the best standup fight of all time in the UFC," Silva said during the UFC 183 pre-fight conference call. "I always pay attention to the best fighters in the UFC and the fighters that could one day be my opponents."

Anderson Silva has always been known as a gracious fighter, and as expected, he has also shown the same respect towards his upcoming opponent.

"He has a good jiu-jitsu, an excellent boxing, and I think it's going to be a great fight," he added. "If he doesn't try to grab me and stall, it's going to be the best UFC fight ever."

Anderson Silva's next fight will be his first time in nine years to compete in a non-title bout. His leg injury in the hands of current champion Chris Weidman in 2013 was by far the worst in his career, but the 39-year old fighter declared that he never considered retirement despite the dreadful experience.

"Retirement never went through my mind," he said in another interview with Yahoo! Sports. "What's happening right now is I'm just dying to return to the Octagon and do the thing I most love in my life. That's what I want right now."