Anderson Silva returns to the cage this weekend at UFC 234 in Australia. The former middleweight champion faces Israel Adesanya in a fight that he may be the underdog in, but if he wins, he is back in the top ten of the division. This is the first pay-per-view of 2019 followed by UFC 235, which has Jon Jones, and Anthony Smith on the main card and with Jones back in action, Silva was asked how he would fair against Jones if they ever matched up.
Speaking with ESPN, Silva did not try to be macho at all and conceded that Jones would likely come out on top in the hypothetical fight. “He’s an excellent fighter,” said Silva. He added that he thinks of Jones as a brother and never thought of himself as the greatest Brazilian fighter that fought in the UFC.
“I consider him like a younger brother and I believe he is the evolution of this sport.”- Anderson Silva
This is not the first time the conversation about a fight between Jones and Silva has been brought up. Back in 2015, both Jones and Silva attended the World MMA Expo in New York City and had a small, light sparring match outside the Jacob Javits Center before they went in to greet fight fans. It was a hypothetical match-up back then; they were both having fun with.
When it comes to the middleweight and light heavyweight division, it is not uncommon for fighters to try out different weight classes or take a fight that makes the most business sense. Fans have seen with Kelvin Gastelum used to fight at welterweight before switching to middleweight and he has had a better run at middleweight than the welterweight division. Sometimes going heavier is better than going lighter.
At 43 years-old, Silva seems to still want to face the best there is in the sport and before any conversation about Jon Jones come up, he will have to see he fairs against Adesanya first before entertaining any super fights with Jones.
How do you think a fight would go between Silva and Jones?
