UFC president Dana White was confident that Anderson Silva would make his return to the Octagon by the end of 2014, but the former champion isn’t that optimistic.

Slowly returning to training after suffering a gruesome injury against Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in December, Silva expects to fight again in 2015.

"These rumors that I’ll fight at UFC 181 or any other event around that date aren’t true," Silva told Combate. "This year is over for me. There’s a chance I’ll fight in the first half of 2015."

Whenever he returns to the cage, "The Spider" does not see himself fighting for the middleweight belt again.

"Anderson’s phase as the champion is over," he said. "Fighting for (the title) is a little far away from me."

Silva, who signed a 10-fight deal with the UFC right before suffering a leg injury against Weidman, expects to retire from the sport before his deal is done.

"I don’t see myself stopping (right now), but I don’t know if I will fulfill my 10-fight contract," he said. "My family has been asking me for years to stop fighting, and they need to understand that this is what I love to do and that I need to have my time. My goal in the sport was to become a reference in this sport, and I’m achieving this."