Former longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva still has his eye on a boxing match with fellow fight veteran Roy Jones Jr., but he understands that UFC President Dana White has to be diplomatic about the issue.
As a matter of fact, so much so that The Spider compared his boss to the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush, in a recent appearance on Brazilian TV show Roda Viva, per MMA Fighting.
“I think that Dana could let me tryout in taekwondo for the 2016 Olympic Games and let me fight Roy,” Silva said on the show, “but if he let me do that, he would need to let other fighters do their things, so he would lose control. [Dana White] is a big dad, but we have our fights all the time. He’s the Bush of MMA.”
Silva and Jones have teased a boxing matchup between the two, via TMZ, since shortly before the Brazilian’s first meeting with Chris Weidman at UFC 162 on July 6.
Of course, Weidman ended up pulling off the unthinkable and becoming the first fighter to knock out the legendary Brazilian competitor in 38 professional contests.
Weidman will defend his middleweight strap for the first time Saturday against Silva at UFC 168, which, like their first bout, takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
The champion enters the title tilt with an unblemished 10-0 record, including three submissions and four knockouts.
Should Silva, who won 17 in a row before losing to The All-American, recapture UFC gold this weekend, White has indicated a boxing match with Jones is still a possibility, per Yahoo! Sports.
A four-division champion throughout a more than 24-year fight career, the 44-year-old Jones is just 7-7 inside the ring since May 2004.
Will Silva and Jones ever trade leather inside the ring or is this just another fantasy matchup that will never become a reality?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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