After Anderson Silva was popped for performance-enhancing drugs prior to his Kelvin Gastelum fight at UFC: “Shanghai” last year, he ultimately reached a deal with United Stated Anti Doping Agency (USADA) after it was discovered the supplements he took were tainted.
Now that former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion is eligible to resume his combat career, all he wants to do is put it all behind him.
“I was working with USADA on the case, and now I move on, it’s over for me,” Silva declared during a recent chat on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show. Still, it was a trying time for “The Spider,” who always maintained his innocence throughout the entire ordeal.
And despite getting cleared, Silva says it won’t give him back his credibility, nor the money he lost after several of his sponsors bolted.
“In my personal opinion, it’s very difficult to be put in that situation, for everybody, when you don’t have solution for the case,” he added. “In that situation, I lose my sponsors, I lose my credibility. So yeah, it is very terrible. But, now that is finished. Now I am just waiting on the future. But, I did lose money, my credibility. It’s tough. The situation tried to destroy my mind, destroy my legacy ... my emotional is very terrible.”
After Josh Barnett won an arbitration against USADA, he went on to sue the supplement company behind his failed drug test. Silva, though, says he will not go down that road.
“Definitely not. I moved all my team, my doctors for U.S. All my team I change. I’m working hard for the future now.”
Silva is eligible to return to action this November, though an exact date and opponent are far from being considered. That said, a super fight against former UFC Welterweight and Middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre is always an option, says “The Spider.”
If not, he can test himself against this up-and-coming star.