Chris Weidman Believes Anderson Silva Is More Intimidating Than Jon Jones
Chris Weidman is set to make his light heavyweight debut at UFC Boston on Friday. Should he get past Dominick Reyes, the former middleweight champion could very well be fighting Jon Jones next.
Given that is a realistic possibility, Weidman was asked who is more intimidating between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.
“At the time Anderson Silva had such a mystique and an aura about him that was actually greater than Jon Jones,” Weidman said at Wednesday’s UFC Boston media day (via MMA Junkie). “He was dominating everybody, putting his hands down, playing with them. Jon Jones isn’t doing that.
“He had two tough fights in his last two outings against guys who were middleweights. Two tough guys, but he didn’t look unbeatable in those fights. Anderson Silva, he had the invincibility feel to him when I fought him.”
Although he won both fights against Silva and solved the puzzle, Weidman believes Jones is a different challenge for him.
“As far as skillset, it’s a very interesting puzzle. I think (Jones is) more of an interesting puzzle as far as skillset, but maybe not as much of a puzzle when it comes to mindset and keeping mental focus and not letting the moment get to you and all that.
“One of the reasons I’m definitely excited to go (to light heavyweight) is there’s a guy there who people think can’t be beat and who people consider to be one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest of all time,” Weidman added. “That’s what really excited me at middleweight. So to have the opportunity to not just shock the world once, but also twice in my career, and beat two of the guys that people think are the GOATs, that’s the sort of legacy I think I would want to leave behind.”
For Weidman to get that fight with Jones he must win on Friday night. But he’ll have no easy task against a very impressive young prospect in Reyes.
What do you make of Weidman’s comments comparing Silva and Jones?
