Roy Jones Jr. Wants UFC, Boxing Superfight With Anderson Silva
Conor McGregor going up against Floyd Mayweather is the weird dream fight that could very well never happen, yet people just won’t stop talking about it. For months we’ve heard the UFC superstar and former boxing champ go at it over social media, in interviews and in 1980s style Nintendo games. There has been money offered, but still there’s nothing. At this point it’s fair to say that it’s just two great fighters with massive egos talking smack to each other, trying to see how much they could get out of a boxing match that most people believe McGregor would lose, but people still want to dream.
Former middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight boxing champ Roy Jones Jr. also dreams of a UFC vs. boxing superfight. He’d love to see McGregor and Mayweather have at it just like everybody else, but the 48-year-old six-time champ wants to get involved in a fight of his own with another UFC legend on the same card.
Roy Jones vs Anderson Silva and Mayweather vs McGregor double headline card UFC invasion. Would be biggest event of all time period
— Roy Jones Jr. (@RealRoyJonesJr) February 23, 2017
Jones going up against Anderson Silva in the boxing ring has been an idea that’s been kicking around for close to a decade. Silva, in 2008, was at the top of the MMA world, in the middle of an unbeaten streak that would last an incredible six years. So of course there was no way UFC was going to let him anywhere near Jones. The idea seemed dead in the water until, in 2013, Silva broke his leg and the possibility of the fight came up again. Now, with all the hype surrounding the very possibility of a superfight involving two massive names in the world of people that beat the crap out of each other for money, Silva is once again trying to float the idea.
All a dream needs to be accomplished is someone who believes that it can be done. #JonesJrVSSilva #SilvaVSJonesJr @RealRoyJonesJr
— Anderson Silva (@SpiderAnderson) February 23, 2017
Taking into consideration all the talk flowing between McGregor and Mayweather, there’s the real possibility that fight might never actual happen. It could just be a ton of hot air, or both parties are trying to build things up to get an equally massive payout from a single fight that some believe could take in somewhere in the ballpark of $500 million. Silva and Jones, however, could possibly be something we’d see. Silva’s a legend, sure, but he’s also 41 and not exactly on his greatest winning streak, coming out victorious in one of his last six fights, including his UFC 183 win against Nick Diaz that was overturned when he tested positive for banned substances. It isn’t the superfight casual fans would pay big money to see, but plenty of people would, curious to see how a star from the MMA world fared against a boxing legend.
Silva, however, has a lot of big dreams. He told Rolling Stone before his UFC 208 fight earlier this month that he has another big name opponent in mind that he’d love to square off against: Conor McGregor.
“I’m very respectful of McGregor’s style. I think it’s a great challenge for my martial arts technique. I don’t talk to disrespect Conor. It’s just a challenge for myself and for the best standup fighting. I respect Conor and I think this would be a great show, a great fight for the rest of life, the rest of my story in the UFC.”