Dana: We Could See Anderson Silva Fight Jon Jones This Year

We’re all hoping for the superfight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones to happen, and happen soon. But with Silva slated to face Chris Weidman at UFC 162 this July and Jones’ future up in the air after his toe being surgically reattached last month, nothing is even close to set in stone. Speculation has been rampant over the past year, but talk has cooled in recent months, perhaps due to an overall feeling that the bout is just tough to put together.

However, there is one man who remains the eternal optimist about the whole situation, and that man is obviously Dana White. He recently spoke up to CBS Atlanta’s Gametime to present a hypothetical timeline for the bout that could be the biggest fight MMA has ever seen:

“Silva has a fight coming up on July 6, he’s fighting Chris Weidman. Many people think this is a very serious threat to his record and his title and everything else. But if he gets past this test with Weidman, we could see this [Jones] super fight this year.”

It’s very true that many are deeming Weidman the toughest test for Silva to date. But there have been a lot of fighters who were deemed as such. There’s no doubt that Weidman is a great fighter with excellent wrestling, submissions, and rapidly improving striking. And he wants to ruin all of the superfight plans for ‘The Spider.’

But wanting and doing tend to be two very different things, and while Silva may be an aging champion, he’s still the most fluid striker the UFC has ever employed.

Regardless of all that speculation, even if Silva gets past Weidman, is he really going to quickly turn around and fight Jones after fighting in July? His turnarounds haven’t been all that quick in recent years. I personally don’t see it happening, but it could be an outside possibility for a New Year’s Eve card. And if that were to be the case, that would be quite the year-ending event.