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Sakara=Excitement · 07-10-2012, 05:31 PM

UFC's Jon Jones On Fighting Anderson Silva: We Could Lose Sponsorships - Bloody Elbow

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UFC president Dana White teased fans after UFC 148 by not ruling out the possibility of UFC Middleweight champ Anderson Silva facing UFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon Jones in a super fight. Jones has not been very receptive.

First there was his fight night tweet via ESPN:

"Man my man ‪#AndersonSilva‬ went to work tonight, consistently amazing," Jones said. "I guess Anderson said he had no interest in fighting me at tonight's press conference, I feel the same way about him. Nothing but respect."

Now he's expanded on his reasoning for not wanting to fight Silva in an interview onESPN LA AM 710 with Max & Marcellus (transcribed via Bleacher Report):

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"It's not that he won't fight me or I won't fight him. To be dead honest, it's that we both have a lot to lose and we both respect each other a lot and we both are striving for personal greatness. I don't want to crack on his greatness and I don't want him cracking on my greatness.

"We're in completely different weight classes. We both have sponsor deals and things that are really important to us and a big part of that sponsorship package is being a winning-being a champion. Having us fight each other means one of our championships goes away.

"I respect Anderson Silva so much that I don't want to be the guy to beat him. I don't want to lose to him either. It's a lose-lose situation for me."

That's an entirely rational position but it's not one that I think will improve Jones' reputation with fans. Fans want to see big fights not hear about how much money losing would cost the fighters.