• UFC

White cools Jones-Silva rumours

ESPN staff
September 26, 2011
Anderson Silva is the UFC middleweight champion © Getty Images
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UFC president Dana White has dampened talk of a super-fight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.

Jones defended his light-heavyweight title against Rampage Jackson at the weekend, a resounding triumph that fuelled the belief Jones has what it takes to be crowned the organisation's pound-for-pound king.

A Jones-Silva battle would help to settle the debate - but White has told Jones he must conquer the contenders in his own division before turning his focus on middleweight legend Silva.

"He's got to beat some of the guys at 205lbs that are next in line before Anderson Silva moves up there," White said. "The guys who have been fighting at 205lbs for all these years and have those slots deserve the respect to fight for the belt before we do some type of super-fight."

The next opponent for Jones is set to be Rashad Evans - and Jackson believes Evans has what it takes to record a shock victory. "Rashad's the only person that basically has a chance of beating him," Jackson said. "Rashad trained with him before, so Rashad knows."

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