Silva vs. St-Pierre, Silva vs. Jones "super fights" not currently on UFC's radar -
03-20-2011, 05:30 PM
NEWARK, N.J. – With newly crowned UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones' dominating UFC 128 win over ex-champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, the fantasy matchmakers already are at work.
And though Jones hasn't made a single title defense, fans are already anticipating a slew of matchups, including one with middleweight champ and fellow pound-for-pound-rankings darling Anderson Silva.
But UFC president Dana White said that fight currently is no more likely than Silva vs. welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
Up until Jones' victory at Saturday's UFC 128 event in Newark N.J., which made the 23-year-old the youngest titleholder in UFC history, the buzz was over a possible St-Pierre vs. Silva "super fight." St-Pierre – largely due to the constant questions and even encouragement from White – said he'd need to vacate his welterweight belt, pack on pounds, and move to middleweight for good if he fights Silva.
All that apparently is standing in the way is St-Pierre's upcoming UFC 129 opponent: former Strikeforce and EliteXC champion Jake Shields.
But White said St-Pierre vs. Silva may not be as close as we originally thought.
"This fight isn't happening," White said. "It's not a fight yet. It's still a big fantasy fight. There are still things that need to happen in the meantime before we sit down and discuss where this fight would be, what weight it would be at, how it would work. It's all just fantasy yet.
"I literally have not talked to Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva about this fight."
The same obviously goes for Jones vs. Silva. White admitted numerous people stopped him on the way to the post-UFC 128 press conference to ask about Jones vs. Silva.
"With what I saw tonight, [Jones] looks a mile ahead of everyone else," White said. "In my opinion, not only is he the No. 1 light heavyweight in the world, he shot up the pound-for-pound (rankings) as well."
But that doesn't mean he's ready to throw him into a fight with Silva just yet.
Besides, Silva really has no interest to fight at light heavyweight, White said. He only did so before (in wins over James Irvin and Forrest Griffin) because he largely had cleaned out the division and was pushed by White.
"Anderson Silva has made it very clear to me that he doesn't want to fight at 205 pounds," White said. "That's why originally when I was always talking about him trying to go for another belt at 205 pounds. ... He stuck his big toe in a couple of times because I was pressing the issue. He made it very clear he doesn't want to fight at 205."
However, like White and other true MMA fans, he thinks Silva might be lured after what we've seen from Jones, MMA's next big star, in the past couple years.
"Who knows?" White said. "Maybe he sees a guy as talented as Jon Jones, and he'll want to try it."
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