This past weekend in the aftermath of UFC 159, there was less talk about how Jon Jones absolutely demolished Chael Sonnen, and more discussion about a mysterious call that Anderson Silva made to Dana White after the fight was over. The substance of the call is relatively unknown thus far, and all we know for certain is that he asked for a fight… apparently with either Jon Jones or Georges St. Pierre. Further fanning of the “superfight” flames were ignited when a pair of high quality photoshopped fight posters featuring Silva facing off against Jones/GSP respectively for a fight in New York’s Madison Square Garden popped up across social media outlets in proceeding days. Nevertheless, those fake pictures did throw fuel onto the fire, and left us all asking – who does Anderson Silva want for the superfight that Dana White all promised us so long ago?
Well, as I’ve said there aren’t really any firm details out, but there are a few things that we do know and some hypotheses we can draw from that…
First off, we know that Anderson Silva is moving into the twilight of his career. With this in mind, Anderson probably knows that he only has a year or two left in his body of peak performance fighting. The man has proven that he can pretty much annihilate anyone that he faces in the cage, and wants to prove once and for all that he really is the best the sport has ever seen. End his legacy on top, in a very Seinfeld-esque sort of way.
Secondly, we know that Silva just signed a massive 10-fight contract extension with the UFC. A contract that he likely will not fulfill, but guarantees that he will have his last days of fighting in the UFC – the sports’ top promotion.
Lastly, as mentioned, we know that Anderson Silva called Dana White right after the Jon Jones fight and said that he “wanted a fight”.
So, who is the most likely candidate at the end of Silva’s request? I honestly can’t help but believe that it’s Jon Jones.
Why Jon Jones? All the pieces make sense…
- The first piece of evidence lies in the time of the call – right after Jones had annihilated Anderson Silva’s biggest challenger to-date. It doesn’t really stand to reason that Silva would have been so disgusted by that performance that he would have called Dana White to ask to fight GSP because Jones is “unworthy”.
- Jon Jones has the greatest potential to go down as the greatest fighter the sport has ever seen – potentially stealing that hallmark from Silva. Jones is still quite young, already dominated all of the top competition in his division and stated that he’s up for the challenge of moving up to heavyweight. A potentially untainted record (the loss to Hamil will NEVER count in my eyes), and two belts around his waist – something Silva has never had. Silva is a man of pride, and I can’t see him being “ok” with anyone stealing his crown as “the best ever”.
- The last piece, that I will address again shortly, is that I think Silva knows that Jones creates the bigger challenge and potential PPV buy. Jones’ size aligns much better with that of Silva, and Jones coming off a big decisive win is great for selling PPVs. GSP’s last fight was a bit of a snooze, and he doesn’t have the same momentum – and won’t until he finishes someone like he did with Matt Hughes (twice).
Personally, I just don’t see GSP and Silva making much sense. The only factor that puts these two in the same cage together in my eyes, is the longevity of their respective reigns. GSP is a small man compared Silva, and would likely have a difficult time getting up to a solid weight-level on par with Silva – even St. Pierre has acknowledged this. I think Silva sees St. Pierre as less of a challenge for this reason – which I don’t think is altogether fair, as Silva has shown some weakness against strong wrestlers, but it’s probably not too far off the mark.
Really, there is only one thing that we know for sure: Silva needs to beat Chris Weidman before anything happens. Weidman does pose problems for Silva, but I really don’t see him beating the Spider. I see Anderson winning this fight, and then we will hear the announcement of the superfight in the octagon right after the match is over (win or lose I see this happening, actually).
GSP or Jones, I personally don’t care. I just want to be alive to say that I saw the biggest fight in the history of the sport.
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Photo Credit: Gotufc.blogspot.ca
