Silva will not retire until he is at least 40

Wanderlei Silva insists he has no plans to retire from MMA until he is at least 40 years old.

Silva struggled at light-heavyweight at UFC, but has now moved down to middleweight.

“I want to fight over six years, at least until I hit forty. This change of class was good, I had to re-educate myself on the food and I’m feeling pretty good about it,” Silva said in a print interview with Brazilian MMA magazine Tatame.

Silva is set to fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 next month.

He said: “Akiyama is a judo player originally but has transitioned well to MMA and all but one of his wins have come inside the distance. It will be a very interesting fight, is a great fight for me because he’s a guy who comes forward to play the game , not a guy who runs. I believe it will be a very busy fight, a great show.”