UFC Champ Jon Jones on super fight with Anderson Silva - "I don't want to be the guy to beat him"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"It's not that he won't fight me or I won't fight him. To be dead honest, it's that we both have a lot to lose and we both respect each other a lot and we both are striving for personal greatness. I don't want to crack on his greatness and I don't want him cracking on my greatness. We're in completely different weight classes. We both have sponsor deals and things that are really important to us and a big part of that sponsorship package is being a winning-being a champion. Having us fight each other means one of our championships goes away. I respect Anderson Silva so much that I don't want to be the guy to beat him. I don't want to lose to him either. It's a lose-lose situation for me."

-UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones talks speaks with ESPN LA AM 710 with Max & Marcellus and explains why he doesn't want to fight Anderson Silva (transcribed by BleacherReport.com).

Penick's Analysis: This is a completely honest reasoning being given by Jones, but that doesn't mean it should have been given publicly. No one wants to hear "we don't want to fight each other because it might hurt our image or how much we make." Fans want to hear that the two best fighters in the world would love a chance to prove who's the best. Sure it could be a lose-lose situation in the aspect he's talking about, but that's not how the fans of the sport would see it. This is just an odd sentiment from the Champ, and an unfortunate one at that.

[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13811.shtml

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