• UFC 140

Forget idea of Jon Jones v Anderson Silva - White

ESPN staff
December 12, 2011
Jon Jones is taking MMA to a whole new level © Getty Images
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Dana White was finally willing to acknowledge Jon Jones among the greatest fighters in the world at Saturday's post-UFC 140 press conference, but that still will not prompt him to throw the 24-year-old in with pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva.

White has been uncharacteristically reserved in his praise of Jones in the past, but after his second-round stoppage of Lyoto Machida the UFC president confessed Bones Jones can become the greatest of all time.

That status - in the eyes of many - currently rests with Silva, the middleweight champion, who is arguably the only fighter with more imagination than Jones himself.

A superfight between the middleweight and light-heavyweight kings would undoubtedly see the two most skilled individuals in the UFC go toe-to-toe, but it appears age difference will stop White ever throwing them together.

"I just think Jon Jones is young," White said. "He's 24 years old, he's just getting out there and fighting all the best in the light-heavyweight division.

"I don't see that fight happening anytime soon.

"What people have got to realise too is Anderson Silva's 37 years old. Thirty-seven years old," White reiterated. "They're in two different weight classes."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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