Anderson Silva, UFC Discussing New Contract Ahead of Jared Cannonier Fight

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva has discussed signing a contract extension with the organisation ahead of his UFC 237 bout with Jared Cannonier.

Manager Jorge Guimaraes told ESPN Brazil's Igor Resende (h/t ESPN.com's Marc Raimondi) the Spider isn't thinking about retirement just yet:

"Absolutely not [close to retirement]. He's still got plenty of firewood to burn. He has a very high IQ and knows how to train well. Age is just a number. He never did [recreational] drugs and never drank. He's perfectly healthy. I think he's in his best shape ever. ...

"Oh, the deal will be absolutely renewed. We've already talked about that, and [UFC president Dana White is] interested in it. Just take a look what the boom he caused in Brazil because of that. The UFC is interested. Good things are coming."

Bruna Prado/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

The 44-year-old Silva has won just one of his last seven fights, beating Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in February 2017. He beat Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January 2015, but that result was overturned to a no-contest after Silva tested positive for steroids, per MMAJunkie's Mike Bohn and John Morgan.

Per Raimondi, Silva has three fights left on his current deal:

Silva (34-9, 1 NC) is one of the UFC's all-time greats as one of the organisation's most dominant champions. He was the middleweight king from 2006 to 2013 before suffering consecutive losses to Chris Weidman, both upsets.

At UFC 162, the Brazilian was caught by a left hand while he was clowning his opponent. Jon Jones and Urijah Faber couldn't believe it:

In their rematch, Silva suffered a gruesome leg injury in the second round.

He's been trying to work his way back into title contention since, with little success. His most recent bout was a unanimous-decision loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 234, which set up a shot at the interim title for the latter. He went on to beat Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236.

Silva showed he's still an excellent fighter by going the distance with rising star Adesanya, and he remains a popular name and big draw for the organisation. MMA writer Brett Okamoto argued the UFC needs to do a better job planning the end of his career, however:

The veteran has just a single win since 2012. Earlier this week he called on UFC president Dana White to set up a fight between him and Conor McGregor, per TMZ Sports.