Everyone was surprised when Wanderlei Silva announced via YouTube that he will be retiring from the MMA and according to him, the main reason for his retirement is none other than UFC itself.
Silva said that he was being considered to fight last may 31 in Brazil but he declined as he was not prepared. He said the promoters push him to go for the fight and even offered him more money that they had offered before. Because of this, Silva questioned how come the promotions didn't offer this amount before when in fact they had the money to do so?
He said that the promoters have the money yet the fighters are still underpaid. So instead of getting lured for the money he said "Sorry but I won't take this money because I won't be in a condition to perform the way my fans expect of me. I can't fight on that date and I won't take the money to just go in and perform poorly for my fans."
But he said the promoters still keep on pressuring him to fight and that was when he said that he would only be able to fight at the end of the year.
According to him, when a fighter can't train because of his injuries, he gives a poor performance than expected and the promoters will fire the fighter. And that is what happened with Renan Barao. Barao had to fight 3 fights in 6 months which is very strenuous for a fighter. Barao defended his belt and lost it then had a rematch right away and had to cut down weight for another fight. That is why Barao collapsed before the weight in. And what's worse is that Barao had to face ridicule from the promoters to the point that they even called him a "kid" in front of the media.
Silva said that this caused a revolt in the athletes most specially him. He said "This makes me angry and makes me look at the sport in a different way. They are taking away my desire to fight. I don't feel like fighting anymore when I hear these statements. Seeing how an athlete is treated. I feel that I don't have a dignified stage where the athletes are respected."
"If you're not going to give them money you should at least treat them with respect."
