Wanderlei Silva Should Retire

Ontario, Canada still hasn't opened its doors to UFC, or any MMA fighting of the sort, so it was a nice treat that Wanderlei Silva came to visit Toronto to party on Friday and host a seminar (along with an autograph session) on Saturday.

One thing is for sure: you don't need to see the Axe Murderer up close and personal to know that he needs to retire.

For starters, Silva is a popular figure when sports gambling on MMA and you have to figure that of the many fighters out there who are scared or weary of retiring, he'll be one of the guys that has plenty of options. He can do publicity, he can do seminars and show up at random gyms and he can probably still be a face of UFC after he hangs it up.

But inside the ring, it's blatantly clear that he's in the "I just don't wanna quite yet" phase. Silva has been a great MMA fighter but he is clearly past his prime. He's like Brett Favre or Mark Coleman - he just needs to know where the end is.

Speaking of Coleman, here's a fact for you: Coleman fought in UFC 10 and will fight at UFC 100. And he's probably the only athlete in all of sports to be inducted in the Hall of Fame yet still in the sport. But I digress.

Silva just turned 33-years-old but let's face it, he's an old 33. Sometimes you look at his face and wonder if he is in fact older than Coleman. But if that's not a tell-tale sign enough, then how about his recent performances in the ring.

Sure, he lost a decision to Rich Franklin and looked like he had some dog in him, considering the catch weight and all, but overall that makes losses in five of his last six UFC betting events. And of those five losses, four were by knockout.

Clearly, there's no shame in losing to Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell (back then anyways), Quinton Jackson and Rich Franklin, but any way you cut it, the losses are piling up.

I know he's still a draw, I know he' still capable of beating the Keith Jardine's of the world, but the axe has dulled for the Murderer. And in sports, too many athletes quite when it's one step too late and Silva is getting to that point. He should have one more fight, get one more win under his belt and then move on.

Something tells me that's not how this script will end.