Much is being made about Anderson Silva wanting to take on Roy Jones Jr. I see it as a very dangerous proposition for Silva, as entering the squared circle vs Jones is a risky one.
He will be entering the domain that Jones has pretty much dominated his whole career and one that Silva has not. This is not the Octagon or an MMA fight…it is a boxing match. Mind you, with any great risk, there is the gift of huge reward. The issue at hand though is whether the UFC would allow such a fight to happen.
This would be a huge PPV extravaganza and if Silva were to win, it would be huge. If not for his own net worth as fighter, but for the UFC and MMA in general. But, if he were too lose, it would put a severe kink into the mystique that is Mixed Martial Arts as the dominant combat sport. I’d much rather see a dual agreement where Silva and Jones fight once in the boxing ring and once in the Octagon (under MMA rules). Now that would be fun to see…
What’s not fun is this whole Fedor saga…
Once again, rumours are swirling that the big Russian Experiment could soon be a free agent. There are reports he may be exiting M1-Global in hopes of searching for greener pastures somewhere else. That’s the problem…green, as in the colour of money.
Fedor’s legacy is at a critical point right now…if his next fight is not against a serious heavyweight contender, many fans, analysts and critics are going to write him off. He will significantly drop down the heavyweight rankings as well as the pound for pound list.
Enough is enough…he has way too much talent to be caught in the buearocracy that is fight negotiations and ‘prize fighting’ for the sake of earning a hefty pay cheque.
Fedor should emulate guys like Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Antonio Nogueira and GSP. There are many, many more that I could mention but the bottom line is that he needs to fight the best competition out there. That is, if Fedor really wants to go down in history as ’one of the best’.
That is the question he needs to ask himself.
I’d be surprised if UFC let their champion fight in a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. unless it somehow benefits them. But te risk is far too high.
If Fedor truly wants to be known as the best fighter in the world. He should just suck it up and come to the UFC already. He’ll get paid well enough, but would have to face real competition for once.
- Pierre-Carl Labeau