Although we haven’t heard much from the man himself, Anderson Silva’s management has been anything but silent concerning Silva’s next opponent. They’ve discounted all the potential candidates from the UFC Middleweight division and mentioned a highly unlikely fight with Luke Rockhold. Immediately following Silva’s second round TKO of Chael Sonnen at UFC 148, even Lorenzo Fertitta was campaigning for a super fight against Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jon Jones came out quickly saying it was a fight he wasn’t interested in and today Silva’s manager Ed Soares confirmed they wanted no part of either:
I don’t think it’s a good fight. I think, number 1, Jon Jones, said he doesn’t want the fight, and Anderson said he doesn’t want the fight. What is it going to do for Jones if he goes go down in weight to fight Anderson? If he loses it’s going to ruin him. If Anderson Silva moves up in weight and fights Jon Jones, here’s a lighter guy who’s going to take my title? C’mon dude. Anderson is fighting a much younger guy, a much bigger guy, and Jon Jones is going to be fighting a smaller guy who technically could be better than him. I can see why each guy wouldn’t want to fight. What’s the upside?
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. First, inter-divisional super fights are incredibly rare in the UFC. Aside from Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn at UFC 94, at no other time have two UFC champions faced off in the Octagon. So, from the start the match is unlikely and, now, with no support from either side, we should probably just let it go.
On top of that, both Soares and Jorge Guimaraes confirmed that a potential fight with Chris Weidman would not happen:
I mean, because he had an impressive win over Mark Munoz and [Demian] Maia? Sure. – Soares
Well, there was a little lack of communication. I spoke to Tatame in Brazil and something got lost in translation. I have a lot of respect for [Chris] Weidman. He’s a great fighter. What I meant was that the fight doesn’t make sense. He has like 9 fights – impressive fights. But it’s half of what Anderson..the number of fights Anderson has in the UFC. I think he’s just a little not ripe enough, but it’s up to the organization to tell who is a good opponent for Anderson. I think he’d be hard to promote. Now everyone is coming out like they saw Chael Sonnen. [Sonnen] did a great job promoting himself and the fight. Now a lot of people are coming forward. Obviously, everyone wants a title shot. – Guimaraes
On if the UFC had offered the fight with Weidman
Well, they mentioned it, but we don’t think it made sense. – Guimaraes
Again, this should be an expected confirmation. Although by all appearances Chris Weidman has a great style to make a difficult challenge for Silva, as well as the credentials with two top 10 wins, he has very little name value. His most visible performance was a lackluster fight against Demian Maia at UFC On Fox 2. He made up for that in spades with a destructive finish over Mark Munoz at UFC On Fuel 3, but Fuel is not widely broadcast, so not many people saw it.
So, the question becomes, “If not Jones or Weidman, who will Silva fight next?” One name that both Soares and Guimaraes agreed on was the always divisive Welterweight Nick Diaz, whose management proposed the fight last week. Guimaraes goes on to say that Silva is not concerned with another fight this year and would rather wait on a big fight. Specifically, he mentions the long discussed fight with Georges St. Pierre. Apparently, Silva and his management are once again angling for the super fight that seems destined not to happen.
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