Retirement for Wanderlei Silva?

After Chuck Liddell's loss to Mauricio "Shogun" Ruan at UFC 97, the MMA media and Dana White himself openly discussed the future of "The Iceman," with many, including White, leaning towards retirement for one of the sports greatest stars.

Heading into this weekend's fight with Rich Franklin, all anyone (myself included) has been talking about when it comes to Wanderlei Silva is a possible fight with former Chute Box teammate Anderson Silva. As appetizing as that fight may be, "The Axe Murderer" first needs to get through "Ace," and if the bout ends the same way his last fight did, shouldn't we be wondering about retirement for Wanderlei Silva too?

Everyone cites Liddell's having nothing more to prove in the sport and his recent string of highlight reel knockout losses as reason enough for him to hang up the five ounce gloves and focus his attention elsewhere. If that's the case - and I'm in the camp that feels Liddell should ride off into the sunset - shouldn't the last man he beat be riding next to him if he too becomes highlight reel material?

These two rivals actually mirror each other quite well, with the only vast difference between the two being age; Liddell will turn 40 in December, while Silva celebrates his 33rd birthday in July. Despite his declaration that he feels 23 on UFC Countdown, Silva has been utilizing his balls to the wall fighting style against some of the best in the world for well over a decade and was left in a motionless heap following his trilogy fight with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Like Liddell, there isn't much left to prove for "The Axe Murderer." He dominated the Pride Middleweight ranks in the same fashion as Liddell dominated the UFC Light Heavyweight division, taking on all comers and holding onto the belt for six years before relinquishing the strap to Dan Henderson.

But starting with a 2006 fight against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and including that loss to Dan Henderson, Silva's record has also taken a very Liddell-like turn. A head kick from the Croatian striker put Silva on the mat, followed by a knockout courtesy of Hendo and while his fight with Liddell himself went to the judges scorecards, their battle was an epic slugfest that claimed Fight of the Night honors and made many Fight of the Year lists. A quick KO of Keith Jardine came next, but the most recent image of Wanderlei Silva in the ring is of "The Axe Murderer" motionless on the ground after dropping his hands and catching an overhand left with his face.

It's not as if Silva is stepping into the Octagon with someone who is going to grapple with him either; Franklin is a striker and will most certainly be looking to end the fight standing up in the same way Rampage did back in December.

Suffering another knockout defeat - or a TKO from taking a pounding - is a very real possibility and would put Wanderlei Silva with the exact same five fight stretch as Chuck Liddell: one win sandwiched between four losses,  consisting of three KO / TKO and one decision.

If so many of us are in agreement that Chuck Liddell should just call it a career, how come we're not talking retirement for Wanderlei Silva as well?