The superfight between Jon Jones and Anderson Silva finally went down last night, and it didn’t even cost a dime.
On Tuesday, UFC President Dana White posted a picture on his Instagram of the two MMA legends engaged in a sparring match at UFC headquarters’ gym. Of course, it wasn’t an actual fight, but it was likely as close as we’ll ever get to seeing Jones and Silva step into the ring against one another.
Jones, the seven-time defending light heavyweight champ, told the media on Monday, per MMAFighting.com, that he would “never want to fight Anderson Silva.” According to Jones, Silva is one of the few people he’s truly looked up to in his life, and he couldn’t imagine himself defeating or losing to the former middleweight champ.
Silva, who has spent most of the year rehabbing a broken tibia and fibula, is currently slated to return to the Octagon on January 31 against Nick Diaz. Like Jones, he also has never really expressed any interest in moving up in weight and taking the superfight.
He even admitted a year ago during a media luncheon, according to MMAFighting.com, that Jones’ youth and size would probably be too much to overcome in a fight.
Jones is currently slated to defend the light heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier on January 3. A win would put him two title defenses away from tying Silva’s record for most consecutive title defenses in UFC history.
The superfight between Jones and Silva may be off the table, but there’s nothing wrong with dreaming, right?
Whether we like it or not, fight fans, a picture will have to do for now.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
