Silva Still Refuses to Speak to White Years After Forced UFC Exit

Anderson Silva has not spoken to Dana White since the day the UFC CEO told him it was over — and there is no indication that is going to change.

White confirmed the ongoing estrangement himself, matter-of-factly acknowledging that the silence has continued to this day.

"That guy won't talk to me to this day because I said it's over and he was in his 40s," White said

The gap between what Silva was and how it ended is one of the more uncomfortable narratives in UFC history. For the better part of a decade he was untouchable — a middleweight champion whose combinations, movement, and ring intelligence made him appear to operate on a different level from every opponent placed in front of him.

Ten consecutive title defences. A reign of 2,457 days that remains the longest in the organisation's history. Performances against Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen that belong in any conversation about the greatest fights ever contested inside the Octagon.

White Reacts

What followed was a different story. One win across his final nine appearances, a 1-3 record in his last four fights, and an exit that came through the door being closed rather than Silva choosing to walk through it. Being told your career is finished is a different thing entirely from deciding for yourself that the time has come. White also had this to say.

"Even guys that were really good, but it's at the end, and I'm like, 'Yeah, it's time for them to hang them up,' and they get upset, and some of these guys never talk to me again. First of all the money, 'One more paycheck. Let me get one more paycheck.

“Then it's the, imagine being at that level and walking out of the tunnel at (Madison Square Garden) with 22,000 people going crazy, and you just never know it's over until you actually get in there, and you can't pull the trigger the way you used to, and you get beat,” White said