After last night’s stunning UFC 162 event, everyone wanted to know what former champion Anderson Silva had to say as well as new middleweight king Chris Weidman. Silva’s cryptic in-cage post fight interview with Joe Rogan only intensified that desire and raised new questions.
Check out the above video of the UFC 162 post-event press conference to hear more from Dana White, Silva and Weidman. After the jump, check out video of White’s post event media scrum and an interview with former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. who still wants to fight Silva.
After last night’s stunning UFC 162 event, everyone wanted to know what former champion Anderson Silva had to say as well as new middleweight king Chris Weidman. Silva’s cryptic in-cage post fight interview with Joe Rogan only intensified that desire and raised new questions.
Check out the above video of the UFC 162 post-event press conference to hear more from Dana White, Silva and Weidman. After the jump, check out video of White’s post event media scrum and an interview with former boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. who still wants to fight Silva.
(Please enjoy this Roy Jones Jr. boxing highlight video. And then, please remember that all those fights happened a very long time ago, in a very different sport than MMA)
Sadly, we may be closer than ever to an Anderson Silva vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight. On Thursday, Dana White told MMA Junkie that the former boxing pound for pound champ is coming to UFC 162 this Saturday in Vegas to discuss fighting Anderson Silva in the UFC.
Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole also confirmed with Jones Jr. that he is meeting with White to discuss fighting “The Spider” under MMA rules in the UFC. Jones Jr., of course, is a future hall of fame boxer that is at least ten years out of his prime.
For years, Jones Jr. looked unbeatable but over the past ten years he has lost seven times in fifteen outings, four of those losses coming by way of ugly KO or TKO. The forty four year-old needs to give up fighting of any kind for the good of his health.
Jones Jr. has been so far gone for so long that, even in 2009 when Silva was vocal about wanting to box him, it seemed like a dangerous proposition for the former Olympian. Add a half decade and MMA rules into the mix and a Silva vs. Roy Jr. fight sounds almost masochistic.
For whatever reason, thogh, Anderson Silva has kept Jones Jr.’s name in his mouth for years, now. Often times it looked as if he used the threat of boxing Roy as a bargaining chip with the UFC but this is the first time that White has seemed at all open to the idea of his middleweight champ fighting Jones Jr. and they are talking about doing it in MMA.
As we all know, if White wants to put together a sham boxing vs. MMA bout in the UFC, he can get it done. We’re not sure what Silva or White think they will accomplish by trotting out yet another sadly brain-bruised former boxing champion to the Octagon and having a UFC legend beat them with ease, but it now appears that this “super fight” might be the only one we’re getting with Silva anytime soon.
Then again, this is far from the first time Jones Jr. or Silva have campaigned for this fight. Heck, it isn’t even the first time Jones Jr. has said he’d go to a UFC event to watch Silva in person and try to make a bout happen. Despite all that, the fight has never happened.
Let’s hope it still won’t. Ultimately, we can’t blame promoters for being promoters and fighters for being fighters.
How can Dana White ignore two huge names saying they want to fight each other and make him a lot of money? How can we fault fighters like Roy for wanting to fight, even when they are far removed from their prime?
Ultimately, it will be the responsibility of any and all athletic commissions to not allow this fight or any like it to happen.
(Please enjoy this Roy Jones Jr. boxing highlight video. And then, please remember that all those fights happened a very long time ago, in a very different sport than MMA)
Sadly, we may be closer than ever to an Anderson Silva vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight. On Thursday, Dana White told MMA Junkie that the former boxing pound for pound champ is coming to UFC 162 this Saturday in Vegas to discuss fighting Anderson Silva in the UFC.
Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole also confirmed with Jones Jr. that he is meeting with White to discuss fighting “The Spider” under MMA rules in the UFC. Jones Jr., of course, is a future hall of fame boxer that is at least ten years out of his prime.
For years, Jones Jr. looked unbeatable but over the past ten years he has lost seven times in fifteen outings, four of those losses coming by way of ugly KO or TKO. The forty four year-old needs to give up fighting of any kind for the good of his health.
Jones Jr. has been so far gone for so long that, even in 2009 when Silva was vocal about wanting to box him, it seemed like a dangerous proposition for the former Olympian. Add a half decade and MMA rules into the mix and a Silva vs. Roy Jr. fight sounds almost masochistic.
For whatever reason, thogh, Anderson Silva has kept Jones Jr.’s name in his mouth for years, now. Often times it looked as if he used the threat of boxing Roy as a bargaining chip with the UFC but this is the first time that White has seemed at all open to the idea of his middleweight champ fighting Jones Jr. and they are talking about doing it in MMA.
As we all know, if White wants to put together a sham boxing vs. MMA bout in the UFC, he can get it done. We’re not sure what Silva or White think they will accomplish by trotting out yet another sadly brain-bruised former boxing champion to the Octagon and having a UFC legend beat them with ease, but it now appears that this “super fight” might be the only one we’re getting with Silva anytime soon.
Then again, this is far from the first time Jones Jr. or Silva have campaigned for this fight. Heck, it isn’t even the first time Jones Jr. has said he’d go to a UFC event to watch Silva in person and try to make a bout happen. Despite all that, the fight has never happened.
Let’s hope it still won’t. Ultimately, we can’t blame promoters for being promoters and fighters for being fighters.
How can Dana White ignore two huge names saying they want to fight each other and make him a lot of money? How can we fault fighters like Roy for wanting to fight, even when they are far removed from their prime?
Ultimately, it will be the responsibility of any and all athletic commissions to not allow this fight or any like it to happen. Allowing a former boxing champion who is in his mid forties and who has spent the last decade getting pummeled to continue to box is itself embarrassing to the commissions that continue to sanction Jones Jr. To allow him to also take on perhaps the best mixed martial arts fighter in history, while he is still in his apparent prime, in the boxer’s first ever MMA bout would be unconscionable.
We can’t imagine any real commission, like those of Nevada, New Jersey or California sanctioning an Anderson Silva vs. Roy Jones Jr. MMA bout. Well, we hope not.
James Toney was sanctioned to fight Randy Couture, after all.
If Silva wants to make the big super-fight money that he’s surely earned, either he needs to bite the bullet and take on Jon Jones or Georges St. Pierre needs to suck it up and fight Anderson.
If Anderson Silva is looking for a fight, Roy Jones Jr. would “love” to give it to him.The 44-year-old boxing legend has never been one to back down from a fight, even if it is against the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.During an interview wi…
If Anderson Silva is looking for a fight, Roy Jones Jr. would “love” to give it to him.
The 44-year-old boxing legend has never been one to back down from a fight, even if it is against the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
During an interview with Marc Raimondi of the New York Post, Silva revealed that he was much more interested in a bout with Roy than UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones. He called for a crossover bout that would consist of one fight with MMA rules and another in a boxing ring.
Roy was in Los Angeles this week, and when speaking to TMZ.com, he revealed that he was aware of Silva’s challenge. He even gave a response:
I would love it … Call me and we’ll make that happen.
According to TMZ, Roy isn’t willing to wait around for Silva forever.
In fact, he hopes a deal can be struck after Silva defends his UFC title against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 on July 6. It isn’t any secret that Roy is past his prime, and naturally, he is a bit concerned about his age.
This isn’t the first time the idea for this bout was pitched.
The opportunity to pit the two combat-sports legends against one another was presented to the UFC back in 2009, but UFC President Dana White left the idea dead in the water.
According to White, a fight like that wasn’t the way the UFC does business, and Silva wouldn’t be allowed to agree to any such bout as long as he’s under a UFC contract. Interestingly enough, it was only a year later that the UFC went forth with an MMA bout between UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and boxing legend James Toney.
Could a potential dream fight between Silva and Roy receive similar treatment?
So, just when it seemed that the two premier combative sports on the planet were content to agree to disagree and coexist as best they can, Junior dos Santos is coming out and saying he could knock out Wladimir Klitschko in what we assume to be a boxin…
So, just when it seemed that the two premier combative sports on the planet were content to agree to disagree and coexist as best they can, Junior dos Santos is coming out and saying he could knock out WladimirKlitschko in what we assume to be a boxing match.
Eh, not so much.
Granted, there is no harm in one man having a strong opinion and a confidence in his own abilities. Dos Santos is the UFC heavyweight champ, and that’s no easy bull to ride. I think I would be more worried about him if he wasn’t confident.
But I do begin to worry when a certain MMA fighter begins to bring up the subject of how they could defeat a boxer in a boxing ring, over and over. Thinking about it whimsically is one thing, but to seriously contemplate the feat is another.
Dos Santos is not alone in his belief that he could easily transition to the world of boxing and dominate: Nick Diaz was in negotiations with boxing promoters to fight Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy, and then we have Anderson Silva, who still seems to be holding on to the dream of boxing Roy Jones Jr.
God, please no.
Diaz, Silva and dos Santos have great boxing in the world of MMA, but in a boxing match they would get eaten alive.
In regard to dos Santos, either Klitschko brother would give him a pronounced beating, and Wladimir would almost surely knock him out. MMA-style boxing is a totally different animal than traditional boxing, built around the notion that you must be able to stuff takedowns, block kicks, etc—and that does not translate well into the world of professional boxing.
Compared to the Klitschkos, dos Santos has almost no defensive skills and far too many bad habits that would see him countered to death. It wouldn’t be competitive once dos Santos realized that his bull rushes and clinches don’t do much in boxing except get you warnings from the referee.
Diaz, for his part, seemed a bit more humble while he was pursuing an entry into the world of professional boxing—but Jeff Lacy would have probably taken his head off in the first round. Once again, severe defensive deficiencies (like little to no head movement) would see Diaz get hit flush—hard and often. Couple that with the power Lacy generates, and you get Diaz laying flat on his back, blinking into the overhead lighting.
Then, there is the case of Anderson Silva, who seems to want to fight Roy Jones Jr. simply because he idolizes the man and has a true love for professional boxing. There is a reverence Silva has when he speaks about the sport and Jones, which almost makes it easier to swallow.
But even against a well-past-his-prime Jones, Silva would get utterly annihilated. As bad as Silva made Griffin and Bonnar look, Jones would make him look worse. Silva may look like a defensive genius in MMA, but against a fighter with the speed and experience of Jones, he’d be very hittable.
A time must come when men such as dos Santos, Diaz and Silva finally understand that there is such a thing as serendipity. They are among some of the best MMA fighters of their divisions and generations because they were destined to be MMA fighters, not boxers.
Sooner or later, some successful, highly praised and thought to be unbeatable MMA fighter is going to let this kind of thinking go to his head, and he’ll leverage his fame and standing to get his wish: a boxing match with a good boxer.
Then, he’s going to get his pride and reputation handed back to him, in pieces, and he will carry those pieces to bed with him every night for the rest of his life. This might sound like a simple thing, but many a fighter doesn’t bounce back from a true humiliation, and given the enormous scope and spotlight the rivalry between MMA and boxing is…well, he’d have to move to the North Pole to avoid hearing about it.
More and more boxers are beginning to voice their admiration for MMA. For every uninformed comment by Zab Judah or Floyd Mayweather Jr., you have fighters and trainers like WladimirKlitschko, Mike Tyson, Freddie Roach and others who honestly appreciate the sport and treat it with humility and respect.
There will always be a rivalry between the two sports, and as long as there is a separation between them, a little back-and-forth across the fence is fine, and in some ways good for business.
But when MMA fighters of high renown begin talking as if their sport isn’t challenging them enough and begin eyeing the professional boxing ring, we can only hope that they have someone in their camp to remind them that one cannot serve two masters.
If it wasn’t already crystal clear that former pound for pound boxing great Roy Jones Jr.’s near twenty-five year career had gone on for far too long, Thursday it was announced that he will fight Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson in Jamaica in December. This fight that no one asked for and that no self-respecting athletic commission would sanction is apparently being made possible by something called Giomax Entertainment Company and Stewart’s Auto Sales.
Yup.
Jones went the first fourteen years or so of his professional boxing career without a real loss (He was disqualified for hitting Montell Griffin while he was down in 1997 and promptly KO’d him when they re-matched five months later) and dominated multiple weight classes on his way to being considered, at times, the world’s best boxer, pound for pound. But since 2004 Jones has gone 7-7, with four of those losses being ugly knockouts or TKO’s.
If it wasn’t already crystal clear that former pound for pound boxing great Roy Jones Jr.’s near twenty-five year career had gone on for far too long, Thursday it was announced that he will fight Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson in Jamaica in December. This fight that no one asked for and that no self-respecting athletic commission would sanction is apparently being made possible by something called Giomax Entertainment Company and Stewart’s Auto Sales.
Yup.
Jones went the first fourteen years or so of his professional boxing career without a real loss (He was disqualified for hitting Montell Griffin while he was down in 1997 and promptly KO’d him when they re-matched five months later) and dominated multiple weight classes on his way to being considered, at times, the world’s best boxer, pound for pound. But since 2004 Jones has gone 7-7, with four of those losses being ugly knockouts or TKO’s.
And so, it has come to this for Jones Jr. Fighting Slice, who is best known for fighting boxing schlubs in South Florida and having those sloppy competitions posted on YouTube, will be a career-low for Jones.
Sure, Kimbo moved past dock boxing to, first, getting propped (EliteXC) and then easily over matched (UFC) up in MMA, and since moving to professional boxing recently he’s built a 5-0 record. We can’t begrudge Slice his financial success and for taking his fame and running with it but Jones has over sixty professional boxing matches, before that was an Olympian (Do yourself a favor and see him dominate the ’88 Olympics and then get screwed out of the gold medal, if you haven’t already).
Jones Jr. vs. Kimbo is a textbook example of the worst part of the fight world – businessmen trying to make a quick buck with sad and silly match ups that exploit fighters and put them at risk. We really have no interest in promoting this bout anymore than we just have so if you want details of when this piece of garbage is supposed to happen, and where, check out the doting article written by The Jamaican Observer.
Since MMA went mainstream, one of the debates with regards to boxing is how would a prizefighter fare inside a steel cage with a fighter whom at the best of times also has the sweet science incorporated into their skill set? Well it has happened on mor…
Since MMA went mainstream, one of the debates with regards to boxing is how would a prizefighter fare inside a steel cage with a fighter whom at the best of times also has the sweet science incorporated into their skill set?
Well it has happened on more than one occasion, and with mixed results.
Former Olympic Gold medalist and WBO heavyweight champion Ray “Merciless” Mercer made his first foray into the mixed martial arts world, his opponent was former UFC employee and street fighting Internet sensation Kimbo Slice.
That said, Mercer lost the bout via Guillotine choke.
His second and last fight in an MMA capacity was a nine-second knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (MMA rules weren’t applied).
Though, the highest profile boxer to set foot into a steel cage, in this instance the Octagon, was none other than three-division world champion James “Lights Out” Toney.
It was a disaster in the making or better yet, a disaster waiting to happen. With little or no MMA experience, Toney was clinically and systematically put to sleep via arm triangle choke, courtesy of Randy “The Natural” Couture at UFC 118.
Shocking as it might seem, Lights Out presently harbours thoughts of throwing down with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and a certain Frank Shamrock.
With bated breath we wait, I think not.
Still, despite the shortcomings of the professional pugilist vis-à-vis everything MMA, some fans still entertain the idea of seeing the pugilist vs. the mixed martial artist.
Let’s take a look at some of those from the persuasion of the sweet science we’d love to see in the UFC’s Octagon.
So, just when it seemed that the two premier combative sports on the planet were content to agree to disagree and coexist as best they can, Junior dos Santos is coming out and saying he could