Following his dramatic exit from the UFC, Wanderlei Silva has officially been blackballed from the Hall of Fame, according to UFC President Dana White.
The legendary MMA fighter took aim at the UFC a week ago in a YouTube video, but surprisingly, this black and white promo wasn’t the usual melodramatic speech fans had grown accustomed to hearing.
The Axe Murderer announced that he would be dropping the axe on his own 18-year career due to a lack of “respect” and serious discrepancies in UFC fighter pay. Though an early retirement hardly seems necessary at this point, given Silva’s current situation with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
On Tuesday, the NSAC handed the former Pride middleweight champ a lifelong ban and a $70,000 fine for allegedly running away from a random drug test earlier this year.
If a lifelong ban wasn’t harsh enough, White added a heap of dirt on Silva’s already deep grave by denying him an opportunity to be honored in the UFC Hall of Fame.
“Nobody has ever run from a drug test before. I didn’t see a lifetime ban coming. Nobody will let him fight. He’s in a very serious situation,” White said about Silva, when speaking to Fox Sports.
“There’s going to be no Hall of Fame,” White continued. “The guy’s been Pete Rose’d. There’s going to be no Hall of Fame offers.”
Silva’s lifelong ban and being denied access to the Hall of Fame is truly a sad ending to one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
Few can lay claim to helping carry the weight of an entire sport on their shoulders, but Silva’s historical significance falls right in line with Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Fedor Emelianenko.
He closed out his career back in March 2013 in Saitama, Japan with a second-round knockout win over Brian Stann.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
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