Anderson Silva’s longtime manager Ed Soares spoke with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour to discuss Anderson’s return to MMA, Silva’s leg injury, and potential opponents for The Spider.

“He’s definitely coming back,” said Soares, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMAFighting. “He’s feeling good, he’s training hard. Everything is good, man. Hopefully we’ll see him back. We won’t see him back any earlier than the end of this year or, most likely, the beginning of next year.

“There’s always a chance (he comes back this year), but as of right now I think his mind is set on fighting at the beginning of next year.”

Soares went on to say:

“There’s Michael Bisping, there’s Cung Le. Even Nick Diaz. Nick Diaz has said he’s wanted to fight him before. Nick Diaz wanted to box Roy Jones Jr. You could argue that Nick Diaz and Anderson probably have some of the best boxing in MMA, so we’ll see what happens. Like we all know, so many things can change, the landscape of the sport can change so much in such a short amount of time.

“There’s not a shortage of talent that the UFC has, so I’m sure the UFC is going to come up with a good plan on who the next opponent should be, and I’m sure it will be a good fight.”

The Spider suffered a devastating leg injury in his rematch with Chris Weidman on December 28th when the champion Chris Weidman checked a leg kick thrown by Silva, causing Anderson’s leg to snap.