Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones Shouldn’t Happen!
I was just casually perusing through MMABay the other day when I saw an article called Anderson Silva’s manager says the only fight that makes sense is Georges St. Pierre. I have to say that I completely disagree with Jorge Guimaraes’ statement given the number of high level middleweights who are on win streaks at the moment. Chris Weidman’s incredible knockout of Mark Munoz surely entitles him to a number one contenders match if not a title fight. Tim Boetsch may not have looked great in last fight against Hector Lombard but it was his fifth win in a row. There are also two big middleweight matchups featuring Michael Bisping and Brian Stann on September 22nd and Vitor Belfort and Alan Belcher on October 13th, both could have future title implications. And former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans has been contemplating a move down in weight to face Silva.
This article is not about proving Jorge Guimaraes wrong, his comments may have been ludicrous but they were nothing compared to the comments at the bottom of the page. As I read through the comments section I found myself feeling both strangely amused and enraged all at once by the comments left by the fans of our sport. The general gist of the comments was that Anderson Silva should move up to Light-Heavyweight to face Jon Jones for his title. That’s not what I had a problem with; it was the disrespectful nature of the comments which got my blood boiling.
I won’t name any of the commenters out (as much as I would like to) but you can always take a look for yourself with the link at the top of the page. According to one comment Anderson Silva is a ‘’f*****g coward fraud’’ for not moving up to Light-Heavyweight to face Jon Jones, it went on to say that Silva picks and chooses easy match ups. Let’s examine that argument and see whether there is any truth to it. Is Anderson a cowardly fraud for not changing weight? No. Weight classes are there to ensure as much as possible that the competitors fight athletes roughly their own size. Fighting at the correct division is not cowardly or fraudulent it’s sensible. Fighters need to compete in the lowest division they can if they want be as successful as possible. As much as I respect Frankie Edgar for fighting at Lightweight I also think he’s being pretty stubborn at this point. There’s no need for it when there are more fitting weight classes to fight in.
If you think Anderson is a coward for not changing then by that logic all of the current Champions are also cowards because they haven’t moved up in weight since winning their belts either. Silva may have held the belt longest but guys like GSP and Aldo in particular have been every bit as dominant and have only a few contenders left just like Silva. No one calls Aldo a coward or a fraud for not moving to Lightweight so why all the hate for Silva? Also if you believe that fighters should move weight then what exactly makes guys like Dan Henderson great? Hendo is often praised for his willingness to fight across three weight classes whenever he is asked. If that’s what all fighters should do then why is it such a great achievement? Is Henderson brave for making those moves in weight or is Silva a coward for not doing it? I don’t think both can be true. The fact is that by suggesting that fighters should change weight you trivialise the achievements of those who have done it in the past.
But let’s say for the sake argument that at the age of 37, Silva moves up and wins the light-heavyweight title from a 24 year old fighter in his prime, what happens then? Should he move up to Heavyweight and fight for that title too? Eventually the UFC will run out of human opponents and they’ll have to just match him with a tiger. That may sound ridiculous but if it happened and Silva won you can bet the comments would say something along the lines of ‘’ WHY DID THE TIGER GET A TITLE SHOT ANYWAY? HE HASN’T FOUGHT ANYONE IN THE TOP 5!’’. There are some people who will never be satisfied no matter what he does. If I were Anderson Silva I wouldn’t listen to the people who just analysis any victory away as soon as he gets it.
The next part of the comment is ‘does Anderson pick and choose his match ups?’ No. Think about this for a second, when was the last time Silva said he was happy to face his next opponent? For the life of me I honestly don’t remember. He didn’t want to fight Chael Sonnen for a second time and he also didn’t think Vitor Belfort deserved a shot back in 2011. And yet both fights happened because the UFC made them happen, not because Silva saw them as easy match ups. This isn’t boxing and fighters don’t get to pick their fights. If you have a problem with the match ups blame Dana White and Joe Silva not Anderson.
I understand the desire for a so called superfight but it’s important to manage our expectations. One commenter on the site claimed that Jones and Silva were ‘‘evenly matched’’. When I read that I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my chair. In what way are Jones and Silva evenly matched? Jones has the height advantage, the reach advantage, the weight advantage, the size advantage, he has youth on his side and he even has the style advantage due to his wrestling background. What advantages does Silva have? He’s the better striker but not by the margin that it would need to be if he is to overcome all the advantages Jones has. Here’s how the fight is likely to turn out, Jones secures the takedown and controls the position on the ground. He lands ground and pound while looking to pass the guard of Silva until the round ends. He would likely continue to employ this strategy throughout the fight. It likely ends in a stoppage for Jones in a disappointingly one sided contest. Then we get inevitable comments saying Silva is overrated and asking why anyone thought he would win. Just thinking about it is annoying.
Just a couple more comments I’d like to address. One said that Anderson was wasting his talent by fighting at Middleweight. As interesting as a Light-Heavyweight move could be I feel that could be every bit as much of a waste of talent. If Jones manhandles Silva the way that I expect him to then Anderson’s career could take a very sharp down turn. I know that B.J Penn got manhandled by GSP and then had great success when he returned to Lightweight but he was a lot younger than Anderson Silva is now. Silva may fight like a young man but that doesn’t make him one. It could be the end of Silva and I’m in no hurry to see him leave the sport like that.
The last comment suggested that Silva’s manager shouldn’t be looking down for his next challenge but up as a number of great boxers do. I kind of understand that comment since GSP is at a significant size disadvantage against Silva. Then again Silva is also at a significant size disadvantage against Jones so why is that ok? As I said at the beginning of the article there are plenty of fights left for Silva at Middleweight so there’s no need for him to move up. Still there will be an argument that if great Boxers move up in weight to win titles then great Mixed Martial Artists should look to do the same. As far as I’m concerned changing weight in MMA is not like it is in Boxing. In Boxing there are seventeen divisions with countless belts in each and only small jumps in weight between them. As a direct result of that being a two weight Champion in Boxing is relatively easy. In the UFC there are only eight divisions with one Champion in each and a fairly sizable weight gap between them. It’s not really fair to compare the two sports or their athletes in that way.
For these reasons Silva should not have to move up to face Jones. The physical advantages possessed by Jones are just too great to make for a truly compelling match up. That’s not to say that superfights shouldn’t happen it just means that this one doesn’t make sense. The true superfight is Jones versus Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight title. Think about it Jones has the slight edge in height and reach while JDS has the weight and strength advantage. They have both displayed a wide array of skills and yet they have not really been truly tested by anyone in their divisions. Perhaps it’s too early to make that fight, I would rather it wait until Jones is unable to make light-heavyweight before it happens. But in the not too distant future Jones and JDS will be the fight we’ve all been waiting for. As for Silva he should stay put at middleweight, and possibly tell his manager to stop suggesting future fights. It’s a lot more trouble than it’s worth.
By Rowan Wynne.
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