Silva releases statement after TKO loss to Jared Cannonier: ‘Pain is your friend’

It doesn’t look like Anderson Silva will be retiring anytime soon.

After Anderson Silva’s devastating leg kick TKO loss to Jared Cannonier at UFC 237, many have called for the Brazilian fan favorite to retire from the sport he once ruled.

Former UFC middleweight champion and ex-opponent Michael Bisping has called for Silva to hang up the gloves but, after issuing a post-fight statement on social media, Silva’s loss to Cannonier only seems to have spurred on the Brazilian to continue fighting despite long term concerns over his health.

”Until the limit, pain is your friend. It shows you’re not dead yet,” Silva wrote in Portuguese (transcript via Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “They say that great symbols become great targets. Maybe. But the most important thing is not to victimize yourself. If you fall, get up. If it’s broken, fix it. No giving up or thinking that you can’t because you lost one battle.

”The saying is, I’m going until the end and the more they pressure me, the more I’ll want to to go until the end. There’s nothing more wild than feeling sorry for yourself. An old lion, surrounded by hungry hyenas, crazy to eat him, and he stills fights until death without ever giving up or feeling sorry for himself. And it won’t be different with me. Strength and honor.”

Silva, the former middleweight king, was once considered the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The now 44-year-old ruled the middleweight throne for over six years and earned a plethora of highlight reel knockout victories during his reign as champion.

Since being brutally dethroned by Chris Weidman in 2012, however, ‘The Spider’ has won just one fight under the UFC banner, with his win over Nick Diaz being overturned to a No Conest (NC) after Silva tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

It’s suspected that Silva tore his ACL at UFC 237, so expect the former champ to be out of action for the foreseeable future.