Anderson Silva has been surprising his doubters over the past several months as he continues to show strong signs of recovery from a gruesome leg injury.
Silva, who sustained a broken leg during his rematch with Chris Weidman in December, has been cleared to return later this year after responding well to rehab since undergoing surgery late last year.
The Brazilian MMA superstar said, though, that he might delay his return a bit, but Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White thinks otherwise, saying that he is expecting Silva to return by the end of the year.
"He always does that with the media," White said of Silva's statement about his return, MMA Junkie reported. "I don't know if he likes to play with you guys or what he likes to do, but I said, he'll be back in 2014 or first thing in 2015. End of 2014 or beginning of 2015 is what I said."
Silva, who recently posted an Instagram video showing him throwing some kicks, has eight fights left in his contract with UFC.
And while he is motivated to return strong from the huge setback he absorbed, the 38-year-old MMA superstar is unsure whether or not he will be able to finish his promotional contract with UFC.
"I have eight fights to do yet in my contract. I want to do all these fights but I don't know that I will be in the mood to do this," Silva said via SportsTV. "For now, I'm very excited, I'm going through a renovation phase. It's going to be nice for me do what I love when I be back to fighting."
It is also unknown at this point who he intends to fight in his return to the Octagon, but Silva previously said that reclaiming his middleweight title.
Reports also indicated that Silva is still interested in facing Roy Jones Jr., in a boxing match before making his comeback, but White recently sounded cold about the idea of pitting Silva against the former light heavyweight champion.
At this point, Silva is also helping teammate Lyoto Machida prepare for his upcoming showdown against Weidman at UFC 175 in July.
