Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva: Why the Rush?

Along with every other fan watching MMA for the last year or two, I’ve been dying to see the UFC put Jon Jones and Anderson Silva against each other.

But after the promotion’s last two pay per view events, I’ve come to the realization that maybe now is not the time.

After Jones’ original match against Henderson was scrapped due to an injury, Jones faced middleweight Vitor Belfort as a stand in. While Belfort is no slouch, he’s not exactly a contender. Belfort arguably gave the light heavyweight champion the toughest challenge in his UFC career and almost snapped the young man’s arm. 

That was the closest we’ve ever seen Jones to being finished and it was to an opponent who’s not even close to the top-10 in pound for pound rankings. Jones usually makes top contenders look like amateurs, but Belfort exposed his weakness—jiu-jitsu.

That weakness of his just happens to be Silva’s specialty.

The next point which led to my conclusion is Anderson Silva’s performance against Stephan Bonnar on Saturday night. As many expected, the matchup wasn’t even close to a fair fight.

Silva has officially outdone himself with his antics at UFC 153. 

Not only did he duck and dodge Bonnar’s strikes with ease, but at one point he grew bored and voluntarily stood with his back against the cage and willingly took several shots to the face. During a scuffle with the light heavyweight, Silva comically motioned with his hands to his corner men, signifying that he had the situation under control and he didn’t need their advice.

While I can’t wait to see these two fight just as much as everyone else, I can’t help but think that maybe Jones won’t stand a chance either, at least not yet. As Dana White pointed out in a recent interview from MMA Fighting, Silva has been the best for years, while Jones is just getting started.

My suggestion is to allow Jones to develop for another year while Silva faces Georges St. Pierre—a closer and more fair match. As we’ve seen, Jones is improving his game at an inhuman rate and will most likely be a significantly better fighter in just a year's time.

He’ll most likely have a much better chance at toppling the best fighter on the planet then. 

Chances are that Jones and Silva will only fight once.

So let's make it count.