Anderson Silva Will Be on Vacation Until 2013, If That’s Cool

(Ooooooh this guy just makes me so mad!)

Considering the ongoing feeding frenzy in the middleweight division, MMA fans have been waiting to hear what’s next for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Well hold onto your asses, because the answer is…nothing? With a matchup against #1 contender Chris Weidman officially nixed, the Spider has decided to just chillax until 2013, and then select his next opponent, because that’s what champions do. As Dana White explained:

“Anderson said he wants to take some time off until after the end of this year, [then] we’ll start talking to him. [Chris Weidman] is in a great spot. The kid looked fantastic, demolished the number three guy. Demolished in spectacular fashion. He’s got the right to call out whoever he wants [but] he’s gonna have to wait, or fight [somebody else first], because Anderson’s gonna fight after the end of the year.”

Look Andy, you don’t want to fight Weidman, we get it. In the grand scheme of life, love, and pay-per-view buys, he’s small potatoes. And you think that if you take half a year off, maybe Weidman will have to fight again (and maybe lose), or perhaps he’ll die of natural causes. This is your plan, basically.

The problem is, taking an extended hiatus at the age of 37 is never a wise move for a professional athlete. Eventually, you’ll have to come back, and there’s a good chance that Chris Weidman will still be waiting there, still improving at an alarming rate. Trust me, you want to fight this kid now, not next Spring.

The bottom line is, Silva doesn’t think it’s in his best interest to fight the guy who happens to be next in line right now, and nobody can force him to sign a contract, so he’s waiting until the situation changes. Perhaps he’s biding his time for a superfight against Georges St. Pierre — which keeps popping up as a rumor — but that would assume that GSP doesn’t suffer another injury during his fight against Carlos Condit in November.

So what do you think about Silva’s long vacation? Will it be a bad move for his career? And should UFC champions even be allowed to say “screw it, I’m not fighting”?