"I just think Jon Jones is young," White said. "He's 24 years old, he's just getting out there and fighting all the best in the light-heavyweight division. "I don't see that fight happening anytime soon. "What people have got to realise too is Anderson Silva's 37 years old. Thirty-seven years old," White reiterated. "They're in two different weight classes." http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/125868.html
Bull**** you foul rotten egg Jones' already beaten the best of 205 outside Anderson Henderson and "Shuugz" Rashad and the likes dont stand a chance Let him face the Daddy before the he hangs them up You smelly bald basta'ad
What the **** does age have anything to do with it? Both guys are fighting at a high level and that's all that matters. Silva could be 800 yrs old and I'd still pay to watch him fight if he's putting on spectacular performances. So...what happens when JJ runs through every LHW? Are they going to recycle by giving him the same guys he's beaten? Silva-Jones is a superfight which would bring in a ton of revenue. And it's well within reason for Silva to fight at 205 if he so chooses. He's also the only guy at 205 who would have the highest chance of giving Jones a competitive match. Makes no sense to **** on this fight.
Anderson doesn't want to go up a division and challenge a dominant champ who monsters him physically and is absolutely brutal in Anderson's weakest areas. He's winding down his career and fair enough too. Silva and Jones just missed each other and that sucks, it would have been an ATG matchup if Silva was 5 years younger but he isn't. :hat
White sure as hell didn't mind feeding a smaller 40 yr old Matyushenko to Bones. And does a loss to Bones ruin Silva's career? Absolutely not. If he wins, he enhances his legacy tremendously. If he loses? Nobody cares. His legacy stays the same. Tell me why the fight does not make sense! If Silva wishes to stay at MW, fine. We shouldn't force him to fight out of his comfort zone. But for White to mention the age difference - it is utter bull****. As for your prediction on Silva ending up as another crushed victim, I say it's irrelevant because....who exactly has a better chance than Silva in regards to beating Jones at 205? Like I said, might as well give Jones the guy who has the best chance at defeating him, even if that said opponent is a big underdog.
It makes sense for me. It makes sense for you. In all likelihood, it doesn't make sense for Anderson Silva. He is 37 and has gone undefeated for how many years now? The man knows his body and to my knowledge he hasn't expressed enthusiasm for the fight. He doesn't want to finish up his career by getting brutally battered by an enormous monster almost 15 years his junior in a fight he didn't need to take. And if he only has one or two fights left, he has a little bit of unfinished business at middleweight to clean up. :hat
What the **** does Matyushenko have to do with anything? Jones was still considered a prospect when he was given that fight. Silva is a guy who only has a few fights left and has made it clear that he doesn't want to fight at 205 again. Considering the explosion of the UFC's popularity in Brazil, it would be completely idiotic for them to force Silva into a stylistic mismatch against a guy in a higher weight class when they could be milking his dominance at MW in his home market until he retires.
People moan about Floyd vs Pac never being made and MMA always putting on the biggest fights, but it's BS. How long had people been calling for GSP vs Silva while both fighters were fighting multiple opponents who everyone knew had no chance of beating them? How long have people been calling for Silva to move permanently to 205? Don't expect Bones to move up to heavy even after he's beat Henderson, Rashad, Davies.
Well not everyone can keep up like Silva does at 37years old and Silva has said that he doesnt want to move up anyway as he probably has had some thoughts on retirement after a couple of fights
People can call for GSP vs Silva all they want, that doesn't mean GSP can just put on a bunch of weight and straightaway challenge the best fighter in the world, who is going to be way bigger than GSP even after he's added all the weight that he's not used to. :-( And Silva has demonstrated his willingness to go to 205 to face the right guy, but he prefers to reign over a single division for years and leave his legacy there, rather than move up just because he can and end up becoming a .700 fighter. Fair enough too. :hat
To be fair, Dana White never claimed that the UFC would force anybody to fight at a different weight class in order to make a superfight. Manny and Floyd have both been fighting at 147 for years now. The UFC has shown that they will kick a guy to the curb on a whim to make a fight that fans want to see if both guys are in the same division. Look at what they did to Condit after Diaz beat Penn, or Rashad with regards to his long awaited title shot.
I honestly think you'd be more likely to see Jones-JDS than Jones-Silva if Jones keeps beating everyone so convincingly.
It has a lot to do with it because of the fact that White mentioned the age difference. Age is ****ing irrelevant when a fighter is still fighting at a high level. Take a look at what Hendo is doing. He's 41 yrs old. If White is suggesting Silva is too old for Bones, then why give him Matyushenko? Is he gonna start saying Hendo is too old for Bones too? It's hypocritical. It makes more sense to tell us something along the lines of, "Silva will not be fighting Jones due to the fact that Anderson isn't comfortable fighting in the LHW division." I happen to think Silva has a good chance at beating Jones. But whatever. You go ahead and get excited about fights like Silva-Bisping if that's your thing. Fifty yrs from now people will wonder what would have happened if Silva had fought Bones, especially when JJ has shown signs of being human. And guess what? The fight could've/would've/should've happened if the fans would actually lobby for it instead of being so protective of their favorite fighter.