Anderson Silva and Jon Jones are widely considered to be the top two pound-for-pound fighters in MMA. They have each expressed reluctance to fight one another despite calls for them to meet.
Jones, a light heavyweight who may eventually move up to heavyweight, has said he will not move down in weight. He also said he and Silva have too much to lose by fighting each other. Silva has waffled on whether he would be open to facing Jones, and now we know the reason for his hesitance: he does not think he would beat Jones.
“Jon Jones, in his class, is the best,” Silva told MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle at a media luncheon on Monday. “If I fight Jon Jones, I’m don’t think I’m going to win.”
Silva told Doyle that he sees a lot of his younger self in Jones.
“He’s large. He’s young. But, in the fight, I see in Jon Jones, I see myself from a long time ago. He’s very smart.”
Silva also told Doyle that the only advantage he would give himself in a fight with Jones is experience.
Jones heard about Silva’s comments and responded over Twitter.
Honored to hear the statements Silva made regarding a super fight me earlier today.. Doesn't change much, still working hard
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) July 2, 2013
For all we know, Silva could have just been messing with Doyle, but I tend to think he was sharing his true thoughts on the fight. Jones is very similar to Silva. He is every bit as devastating, only he is younger, bigger, and stronger than the Spider. I probably wouldn’t be too interested in fighting Jones if I were him, either. GSP, though, is a much different story.
