By MARK GILBERT
Published: 17 Oct 2008

UFC president Dana White has cast doubt on Anderson Silva’s plans to retire from Mixed Martial Arts next year.

The middleweight champion revealed he is planning to hang up his gloves in June once he completes his six-fight contract with the world’s No1 MMA promotion.

But White has hit back at the Brazilian’s claims and insists the 33-year-old will be fighting for years to come.

Speaking exclusively to SunSport, White said: “You never know when a guy is going to say, ‘Hey, I’m done, I want to retire’.

“But is he really going to retire? I don’t think so.

“Why would he quit? He’s got an opportunity right now to make a lot of money - he’s making a lot of money.

“The window of opportunity in this business is very small and you’ve got to ride it for as long as you can.

“Once you retire from the fight game, it’s very hard to make that kind of money ever again.”

Silva has not been defeated since winning the belt from Rich Franklin two years ago.

He will defend his title against Patrick Cote at UFC 90 later this month but White insists The Spider is not unbeatable.

He said: “It’s like the old Mike Tyson fights – people used to wonder when he was going to knock his opponents out but then one day he fought Buster Douglas and lost.

“You never know when that day’s going to come and that’s going to happen to Anderson Silva.”

And the UFC supremeo hinted the Muay Thai master could fight again before the end of the year depending on how his clash with Cote turns out.

White added: “If Silva finishes Cote in the way he normally finishes opponents, he could fight again in two months.

“I could keep him busy all the time and that’s what he wants to do. He wants to keep fighting.

“If Silva wins this fight easily and impressively, he’ll take another fight at 205lbs.

“Then he’ll defend his title again at 185lbs – he’s got a lot of fights in him and he wants to keep fighting every other month.”

The Brazil legend is also being lined up to take part in one of the biggest fights of 2009 IF welterweight champion Georges St Pierre defeats BJ Penn at UFC 94.

White revealed: “If GSP beats BJ then you’ll see Silva v GSP - possibly at a catch weight.

“But if Penn beats GSP there’s no way I’d let him move up to 185lbs, no way.

“He’ll f***ing fight, argue and cry about it but there’s no way – it ain’t gonna happen, I can tell you that right now – it ain’t gonna happen.
I think that Dana is scared that BJ will submit Anderson.