In 2013, the MMA middleweight GOAT Anderson Silva, then 38, spoke with Marc Raimondi. then with the NY Post, and repeated a desire he had voiced for several years – to box Roy Jones Jr. Through a translator, Silva said he wanted that much, much more than a superfight with Georges St-Pierre or Jon Jones.
I think everyone’s got something they’re focused on and that’s my own desire, something I’d like to do, said Silva. Maybe one day when I’m done my UFC career I will box Roy Jones. That’s something I’d really be interested in. Maybe Dana should do this fight.
Last month the UFC released Silva, 45, with one fight left on his contract. At the UFC on ESPN 18 post-fight press, UFC president Dana White said he had three screens playing during the event – one for his own show, one for a college football game, and one for his friend Mike Tyson’s exhibition vs. Roy Jones Jr.
White was asked if he was interested in promoting Silva vs. RJJ in the ring.
To my core, I am a f***ing fight fan, replied White. What I truly believe is that the fight business is for young guys. It’s not for old guys. … I want to see the best in the world, the best up-and-coming kids … I want to see these guys fight and I want to know who is the baddest motherf***er in the world in every division. As a fight fan, that’s who I am and that kind of stuff doesn’t interest me.”
However, White is not the world’s sole combat sports promoter. Silva says he’s still interested, and during a recent interview with Jack Figg for England’s The Sun, RJJ’s coach Tom Yankello said negotiations to box “The Spider” are in the early stages.
“I think that rematch [with Tyson] and Anderson Silva are the two fights that he’s looking at,” said the coach. “Anderson Silva would be the first choice for him as he feels like he could really do what he wants with him and it would be worth his while. He’s been talking about fighting Anderson Silva for a long time and now he’s not in the UFC they can make that happen. If that fight was presented he’d fight again.
“I know he’d do the Tyson fight, he said that right after, we’ve talked about it. He’d definitely contemplate it anyway, in my opinion, I think he’d do it from our conversations. I could use the word ‘might’. I know he’d definitely do the Anderson Silva fight if there was enough public interest that wanted to see them fight.”
What do you thing UG? Do you want to see RJJ vs. Silva? And do you think it will happen?
