UFC
UFC Champ Anderson Silva says he won't fight Jon Jones, still open to Georges St-Pierre superfight
Feb 16, 2012 - 3:45:47 PM UFC Champ Anderson Silva says he won't fight Jon Jones, still open to Georges St-Pierre superfight

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

When Jon Jones began his emergence as a serious force in the world of MMA, one super fight many began talking about was with Anderson Silva. The UFC Middleweight Champion had dipped his toes into the UFC's light heavyweight division twice, and both times came away with spectacular victories.

As he had continued clearing out his own division, the thought of him going up to light heavyweight wasn't a crazy one, and a fight with Jones could provide for a major, major fight for the UFC. However, according to Silva, it's just something that's not going to happen.

"I don't plan on moving up in weight anymore," Silva said in an interview with UOL Esportes (transcribed by "Orcus" at BloodyElbow.com). "He's in a different weight [class]. I train with bigger guys, such as Lyoto Machida and Big Nog and I know how complicated it is... Every time I see Jones I tell him to keep focus, because if he does that, there's no opponent for him. He's better than everyone. He'd have a lot of advantages [over me], he's much younger and it wouldn't be something interesting [for me]."

While that super fight isn't in the cards, Silva remains open to a fight with UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre.

"GSP is very educated and I like him a lot," Silva said. "A fight against him would be very, very, very big and this could actually happen."

For now, Silva has a second fight with Chael Sonnen on the horizon, as it's expected to take place in his home country of Brazil this June. Silva has defeated him once, but that hasn't stopped Sonnen from continuing to spout off against Silva and several of his Brazilian teammates, among others. Silva has no respect for Sonnen's talk, and believes it's Sonnen is a detriment to the sport.

"A lot of people who hear the crap he says end up thinking, 'I don't like MMA, it's a joke,'" Silva said. "What he does only hurts the sport in general. That's never good. We are in a good phase with MMA and we have to capitalize on it. It looks like Chael doesn't understand that, all he wants is for people to get angry."

Penick's Analysis: Silva saying Jones would have several advantages over him and that being one of the reasons he's not interested in that fight, along with not wanting to move up in weight, could be the very same things that make a GSP fight a long shot. St-Pierre has often talked about how hard it would be for him to move up from the welterweight division, and it's why the two have continued defending their respective titles and staying in their own weight classes. While I still would be highly intrigued by an Anderson Silva fight against either Jones or GSP, I'd also be completely content seeing all three stay atop the divisions they're currently in. Dominant champions can be highly interesting for a lot of people, and it's always exciting to see a different challenger try to topple the man on top. For the time being, it's hard to imagine any of the three getting defeated anytime soon, and there's nothing wrong with that.