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Weidman: Silva should call out Jones, not GSP

ESPN staff
July 30, 2012
Anderson Silva is open to a fight with Georges St-Pierre © Getty Images
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Chris Weidman has told Anderson Silva to stop running scared of his toughest challengers, claiming he should step up and fight Jon Jones if he truly wants to face the best.

Weidman is doing all he can to force a middleweight title shot against the UFC's figurehead fighter, but Silva's camp seem less keen on the bout. Noises coming from Brazil have claimed Weidman is not worthy, while match-ups with welterweights Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz have been mentioned.

Weidman insists Silva is merely attempting to secure fights with smaller men, claiming the champ would be challenging light-heavyweight king Jon Jones if he wanted to make the biggest fight possible. Failing that, the American says he would provide a sterner test than GSP or Diaz.

"It's like they're trying to avoid my name being mentioned at all for the title shot," Weidman told MMA Weekly.

"They're trying to deflect with other guy's names so people can start thinking about them as possibilities, but even guys they're choosing to call out like GSP or Diaz, they're both welterweights.

"The guy's a champion of 185, he should be fighting the contenders. You don't call out guys that aren't going to be able to fight forever and guys that are lighter than you.

"Why don't you call out Jon Jones? That makes sense, I'm sure a lot of people would watch, I'd love to watch too. If you're not going to fight him, fight me, I'm ready to go."

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