The notion of a superfight in the UFC has loomed over the promotion for years, but for all the chatter about the mythical event happening, no major bout has ever been put together pitting a champion from one weight class against a champion from another.
Lately, however, the conversation has heated up once again with a trio of fighters all circling around potential superfights. The entire scenario is based around UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva, who currently stands atop the world as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.
Silva has long danced around a potential bout against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, but the fight has never come together in the almost five years it’s been talked about.
A new contender has appeared on the horizon, however, as UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has emerged as a serious threat to Silva’s reign in the conversation for who truly is the best fighter in all of MMA.
At UFC 159 on Saturday night, Jones dismantled former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen inside of five minutes. That’s the same Sonnen who nearly beat Silva in 2011 and gave him another tough fight in 2012 before falling to defeat in both fights.
Following the end of the event, UFC President Dana White said that when the main event was over, he got a call from Silva asking about a potential superfight he was interested in taking. White would not reveal who he asked about, but the writing is on the wall that the longtime UFC champion was discussing a possible fight with Jones down the road.
“If he wins that fight he wants another one,” White said about Silva’s plans. “He’s got to get past this first fight and then I’ll work on that one.”
Silva is currently matched up at UFC 162 in early July against top middleweight contender Chris Weidman.
White refused to speculate on Silva’s wishes because none of it matters if he doesn’t get past Weidman in July.
“It doesn’t matter who he wants to fight he’s got to fight Weidman first,” White said. “If he doesn’t beat Weidman, what difference does it make? The fight isn’t even real. Who he wants to fight doesn’t matter and isn’t real. He better want to fight Weidman right now. That’s all he needs to focus on.”
A big smile crept across White’s face, however, any time he made reference to the potential superfight because he’s dreamed for years of putting on a major bout like that in a huge arena such as Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
The whole key to the puzzle falls on Silva’s shoulders, however, because he has to win his next middleweight title defense for any of this to come together. If he does beat Weidman, a showdown with Jones could be just the fight the UFC is looking for to headline the upcoming 20th anniversary show in November.
“I’ll talk to Ed Soares and we’ll figure some stuff out,” White stated. “We’ll go from there.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted
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