RJJ wants to bring UFC to Russia, vs. Silva
For years Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. have expressed the desire to face each other, in a boxing match….
For years Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. have expressed the desire to face each other, in a boxing match.
That’s his lifelong dream, said Jones speaking of Silva. We’ve got to make that happen. If (Silva) beats Weidman, then we’ll do a boxing match, which is what he wants to do. … If he beats Weidman, I’ve got to be ready for it because he’s going to be coming for me – and I want to be ready when he comes for me. I want to give him what he wants.
Chances of it happening seemed wildly remote, but the greatest thing about mixed martial arts is that anything can happen, even, possibly, boxing. UFC president Dana White has, however grudgingly, said he will consider the bout.
These two drive me crazy. They drive me crazy, said White recently. First of all, Roy Jones Jr. is a longtime friend of mine. When I was a 19-year-old kid in the boxing business, Roy Jones was very good to me. So I’m in this position where I feel like Roy wants to fight him, he wants to fight Roy – I feel like I’m in this position to try to make both of these guys happy. But it drives me crazy.”
Now Jones has added a further twist – he wants to make the bout in Russia. The Moscow based R-Sport has the story.
After outpointing obscure French-Algerian fighter Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf in a boxing match in Moscow on Saturday, Jones said he wanted to bring the UFC to Russia for the first time when he debuts in MMA.
I really love Russia, Jones said. It all depends where the best offer comes from, but next year I’m supposed to be fighting Anderson Silva and I really hope to have that fight in Russia.
Jones’ Russian promoter Vlad Hrunov said he has already had offers for the TV rights for a Jones-Silva fight and would fly to Las Vegas on Monday for talks with White.
I’ve got the desire to bring White’s show, the UFC, to Russia, said Hrunov, but suggested that there had been a certain amount of skepticism from TV companies as to whether the Jones-Silva bout would actually take place.
There remain hurdles to the contest, not the least of which is Silva beating Chris Weidman on Saturday, live on PPV, in the biggest fight of the year.
