Mixed Martial Artist Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva has announced his retirement from sports fighting after getting frustrated in the sport he claims that no longer respect athletes.

Silva, a former Pride Fighting Championship (Pride FC) champion and veteran warrior of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced his retirement through a YouTube video. He said he was retiring from mixed martial arts because he no longer has a platform where he can fight and "get proper respect" as an athlete.

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"They don't respect the athletes, they don't take care of the athletes, they don't pay the athletes," Silva said in his native Brazilian Portuguese in the video.

Silva added that he was fed up and that enough was enough.

You can find Silva lashing out at the UFC for 11 minutes in this YouTube clip:

Silva's decision came after he was caught running away from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC). NAC officials showed up in Silva's gym unannounced for random drug testing before his scheduled fight with wrestler and ground and pound expert Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 last July.

When the Commission came, Silva stopped training, went out of the gym's backdoor and drove away with the Commission running after him.

Silva's lawyer is currently appealing the suspension of his fighting license, stating that the NAC should not have been able to penalize him because he was not currently a licensed athlete in Nevada. The NAC decision will be released on September 23.

However, Silva did not feel the need to wait for the results and went on to retire anyway.

Silva's career has an impressive 49 fights in which he fought the who's-who of mixed martial circuit.

Majority of his career was at the now-defunct, Japan-based PRIDE FC, where he emerged as the winner of several Middleweight Grand Prix tournaments.

Silva then flew across the world and returned to the UFC where first started fighting itnernationally.

In the UFC, he had interchanging wins and losses.

The Axe Murderer became famous worldwide his trademark music and distinct fighting style. Silva comes from the Chute Box Academy in Curitiba, Brazil that stables Muay Thai fighters with be-all-end-all charging style.

Tagswanderlei silva, retire, UFC, PrideFC