Most fans have heard the news this week regarding Anderson Silva’s comment about fighting Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match. Here are some of the comments:
“All these boxers out there talking s— how MMA fighters aren’t technical, well he’s willing to step up and fight them in their own game,” says Soares, who notes that the idea to challenge the aging Jones was the UFC champ’s. “So, if anything, he’s not trying to say there’s nothing to prove in MMA; he’s trying to plant a flag for every one of the fighters out there in the world that fight MMA.
Could Silva even get Jones? Locked in a UFC deal, Soares said that would be up to Dana White, but if they had their way the fight would get made.
“I think he’s a great boxer, one of the greatest boxers to ever box,” Silva says of Jones. “I would love the opportunity to test my skills against him.”
Soares also mentions in the MMAWeekly story a few days later this comment:
According to Soares, however, there are other people who think there might be some merit to putting Silva up against Jones in a boxing ring.
"I just spoke with Roy Jones' management and they are very interested in it. They think it would break all kinds of pay-per-view records. It all kind of started as a dream of Anderson's, but if the UFC would back it, it is something that we really would like to pursue."
Jones' management indicated that this could be a fight that would bring together the fractured factions of boxing and mixed martial arts. "They think it will actually bring together the boxing and MMA communities," said Soares.
So, the big question is… will this fight actually happen? When both sides of the matchup are actually considering the fight, it’s much closer than one side denying that it even exists. Most likely, Jones sees an opportunity in a couple of key areas of the boxing scene. There is potential for him to gain new fans from the crossover bout, and he will likely get a nice cut from the fight if it is promoted correctly and a network like HBO is used to create another Hatton vs. Mayweather 24/7 show. It could effectively hit over a million buys.
How can the UFC win in this situation if Jones is making all the big money, and Anderson Silva is beaten? For most fans of both sports, the consensus is that Roy Jones Jr. should win the bout. If Silva is crushed inside 3 rounds, it won’t be a surprise. If Silva can last the entire bout or even win a few rounds, it’ll be an impressive feat for the UFC’s middleweight champion and may swing some boxing fans to watch mixed martial arts. In fact, Anderson Silva could potentially become the fighter that was impressive enough for some boxing fans to give a UFC PPV a look at with his name attached to it.
The mainstream media would eat this story up in a heartbeat. The amount of hype that would be produced would be so astounding that boxing fans and MMA fans alike wouldn’t be able to keep their hands from ordering the pay-per-view on their On Demand cable boxes. The buyrates would likely be unbelievably profitable, and it would give the UFC more exposure in the mainstream market as well as on the top network television networks. If Zuffa somehow managed to promote this fight instead of a boxing promoter, huge money could made for the company.
Could this really be a win-win for the UFC? Possibly, but if Anderson Silva somehow gets dismantled into unconsciousness, I think the tide would turn on that argument.