In February, arguably the best mixed martial artist (MMA) to grace the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) octagon, Anderson "The Spider" Silva, will return to action and aims to continue his path toward the middleweight championship.
Silva was unstoppable in the UFC and was the middleweight champion for a long time before Chris Weidman, who is also a former champion, took the belt from him in their first meeting and defended the title in the rematch.
In that rematch, Silva suffered a broken leg which sidelined him for over a year, before returning January of 2015 to beat Nick Diaz.
But the fight was later ruled as a no contest, with both Silva and Diaz testing positive for drugs and receiving suspensions.
Now, the former champion is out of suspension and will again stage a return on Feb. 27 to take on Michael Bisping.
In a report by Sherdog, Silva said through a translator in a media call that despite everything he has been through, retirement was never an option for him.
"I always told my kids if you have a dream you have to follow it and give it your all. If you don't, you're gonna be frustrated for the rest of your life that you didn't try," Silva also said.
The 40-year-old fighter then added, "That's what I'm doing. I have a dream that I'm going after and that's to get that belt back. I'm going to try my best to go back there and get it back."
Currently, Silva is not on the top 15 in the UFC middleweight rankings while his opponent, Bisping, is seventh in the weight division and is on a two-fight winning streak.
The fight between Silva and Bisping on Feb. 27 is the main event of UFC Fight Night 83, which will be held at the O2 Arena in London.
