7 Concerns About Anderson Silva's UFC Return

What is really left for the Spider to prove?

By Jay Anderson /

Anderson Silva is arguably the greatest mixed martial artist to ever live. The GOAT - the greatest of all time. That's a title that is thrown around a lot by fans, and it's always based on little more than personal opinion (even the UFC's official pound-for-pound rankings are debatable), but Anderson Silva would certainly be a top candidate. Really, the only other fighters that have a claim would be Georges St. Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko. Silva, however, has not fought since a horrific leg break suffered in his rematch with Chris Weidman in December 2013. That fight, which was a rematch of the fight where Silva first lost his middleweight title, was as shocking as it was gruesome. Some thought Silva was done. With two straight losses to Weidman and now out of the title picture as a result, and with an injury that would take over a year to heal and rehabilitate, why come back at all? What was left for the Spider to prove? Well, it seems that Silva is coming back, and perhaps what is has to prove is that he can come back. He has indicated that he might even finish his contract, which has several fights left on it. That's all well and good, and we're glad that he's healing up well. We'd also be lying if we said we weren't excited to see Silva in the octagon again... but we have reservations as well. Here are seven concerns we have about the return of The Spider, Anderson Silva.