UFC 140 Results: 5 Reasons Jon Jones vs Anderson Silva Has to Happen but Won't

With Jon Jones' impressive second-round submission over Lyoto Machida, Jones added a definitive exclamation point to an absolutely historic year. Perhaps, the best year any fighter has ever had.

With his impressive year has come a lot of praise and a lot of hype. Some would even place him atop of their pound-for-pound list. That's where Anderson Silva comes in.

Silva, the longtime kingpin of the middleweight division has held on to the top spot of pound-for-pound lists longer than anyone, with the exception of Georges St-Pierre. Silva has been the undisputed greatest fighter in the world.

While Silva has certainly set the mark for longevity, it's hard to deny Jon Jones' recent dominance.

While the debate could go on and on for days and a solid case could be made for both, MMA isn't college football; this could very well be settled "on the field."

A Jon Jones-Anderson Silva super fight is the biggest fight the UFC could possibly make. Silva has moved up to light heavyweight before and aside from one or two contenders has cleaned out the middleweight division. At 36 years old, Silva doesn't have anything left to accomplish, and a win over Jones could only make his already incredible legacy even more definite.

Despite all the reasons this fight would be great, the fight everyone want to see will never happen.

Styles

Styles make fights. Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have been able to establish their dominance with their unique styles.

However, at UFC 140, Lyoto Machida was the first one to find Jones' chin with a solid strike and had him stumbling in the first round—a round many felt that Machida won.

Most people will tell you that what makes Machida special is his style is completely unique. No one fights like Machida. That's not entirely true.

Machida's friend and training partner, Anderson Silva, fights with a very similar style as Machida.

No Silva isn't a karate striker like Machida, but they do have similar stances and use similar strategies in their striking.

In order to get past the incredibly long reach advantage of Jones, his opponent must attack with incredible quickness and accuracy then evade any counter attacks or takedown attempts from Jones. This describes Silva to a tee.

Machida was able to find Jones' chin. If Silva finds it, the fight could be over.

On the flip side, Silva has dominated his competition with his quick and accurate striking. Silva has knocked out the best the middleweight division has to offer and even knocked out Forrest Griffin for good measure.

On a few occasions though, Silva has looked human.

Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson have shown that if you can close the distance early in the fight, get the takedown and keep Silva down, you stand a chance.

While neither of those two could sustain their success for the duration of the fight, Jones' ground-and-pound is far above theirs or anyone's for that matter.

If you were to create the perfect fighter to beat Jones...it would be Silva.

If you were to create the perfect fighter to beat Silva...it would be Jones.

That's why this fight MUST happen; these two were MADE to fight each other. However, other factors will make this exclusively a fantasy matchup.

Timing

Timing is one of the largest issues of this fight. The time for this fight is now.

After UFC 140 Jones and Silva should be first and second on every pound-for-pound list. Especially with Georges St-Pierre shelved for up to two years with an ACL tear.

After the year Jon Jones has had, he's quickly becoming the most recognizable name and face in all of MMA, and Anderson Silva is known by even the most casual fans of the sport as the best fighter in the world and an all-around bad dude.

A Jon Jones-Anderson Silva superfight could sell out any arena right now and would most likely set a record for pay-per-view buys. The UFC doesn't have any two bigger names that could be put together.

The problem is this fight isn't even close to happening.

First, there's Silva's injury. Silva has a nagging shoulder injury that he has elected to have surgery on. His return is scheduled tentatively for summer of 2012, but with injuries, its hard to tell when he will actually return. He was originally set to come back in early 2012, so it's hard to tell just how long it will take to recover from his injury.

Once Silva returns, he's set to face the winner of the Chael Sonnen-Mark Munoz bout—a very marketable fight for the UFC regardless of who wins and one of the few fights remaining for Silva at middleweight.

Silva isn't known for making quick turnaround from a fight so it's unlikely he would be willing to take a fight against Jon Jones anytime directly after that. Especially given he would be moving up a weight class.

This puts us, at the earliest, a year away from a Jones-Silva superfight.

A lot can change within a year. A year ago, Jon Jones was just a prospect preparing to take on Ryan Bader.

Another factor in the timing could be Jones' weight.

Much like fellow young champion Jose Aldo, it's generally understood that he will eventually have to move up a weight class as he fills out his frame with muscle.

With Jones' time as a light heavyweight limited and Anderson Silva not getting any younger at 36 (37 by the time the fight could happen), the timing just won't work for Jones-Silva.

GSP's Injury

What does GSP's injury have to do with a Jones-Silva superfight?

More than you'd think.

Before St-Pierre's lackluster win over Jake Shields, all the buzz was over the possibility of a Silva-St-Pierre superfight. With a dominating win over challenger Nick Diaz, the talk of such a superfight would inevitably come back.

With St-Pierre out indefinitely, all of the attention shifts to a Jones-Silva superfight to settle the pound-for-pound debate in the cage.

Dana White always says that he's a fan, and they want to put fights on that please the fans. A Silva-Jones fight would most definitely please the fans.

Unfortunately, GSP's injury also all but guarantees that a Silva-Jones fight will not happen.

While Dana is a fan, behind his fandom and brash personality, there's a very shrewd businessman.

Dana understands that right now is a very crucial time for the UFC as they attempt to gain even more ground in the fight to become a mainstream sport. With the new FOX deal, the UFC is getting more and more exposure. Dana needs his recognizable fighters to remain active as possible.

Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones are the most well-known athletes with the mainstream. With one out for the year and another one loss away from being irrelevant in his division, pitting the last two against each other would not be a good idea in the long run.

A loss for either would make them considerably less marketable and with GSP on hold for a while, the UFC needs all the star power it can keep active.

Money

As mentioned in the previous slide, Dana White is an incredibly shrewd businessman.

You don't build the UFC into what it has become without having a great sense of direction and good decision making. That means he knows just how much a Jones-Silva fight could potentially make him.

If he isn't concerned about the long run, this fight would shatter any previous records held for attendance, live gate, pay-per-view buys and any other metric that measures the success of a card.

This fight would make everyone involved a lot richer and has quickly become the sports Pacquiao-Mayweather. The UFC could charge a $100 for this pay-per-view, and fans would still buy it.

Unfortunately, Dana has shown that he does care about the long-term, and its unlikely he would push for this fight to occur knowing that it would hurt either fighter's marketability or hurt them in the long run by "killing off" one of their best fighters.

Anderson Silva

Ultimately, this fight comes down to Anderson Silva. He's been quoted as saying he isn't interested in moving up to light heavyweight, and that decision will ultimately be his. He has earned that.

Silva is in the twilight of his career, and although his dominance has continued, he knows as well as anybody that his time in the UFC is coming to an end.

While fans would love to see Silva move up to light heavyweight and make a run at being a two-division champion, Silva seems content to take on all comers at middleweight and continue his record-setting streak of title defenses.

One of the reasons Silva has always said he doesn't want to move up to light heavyweight is he doesn't want to be competing for the same belt that his training partner and friend Lyoto Machida is fighting for. After Machida's UFC 140 loss to Jones he may be out of the title picture for a while, clearing the path for a potential move up for Anderson Silva.

So just when you think there's no way the fight will happen, the possibility reopens and leaves fans wondering "what if?"

While Silva-Jones would be a dream fight for the fan. It's not going to happen.

Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 140. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the December 10 fight card, including results and post-fight analysis.