Anderson Silva says Jon Jones fight won't happen, will stay at middleweight

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"There's always been a lot of talk about me moving up to 205. I know [UFC president] Dana [White] has talked about it and all the fans have talked about me moving up and facing Jon Jones. But it's something I've never wanted. I won't be pretentious and say that I'd want to move up, especially because there are other guys in the weight class and on our team like Rafael Feijao [Cavalcante] and [Antonio Rogerio] Minotoro Nogueira, guys who could potentially face Jon Jones in the future. What got me this far is that I'm grounded; my weight class is 185 and I'm 37 years old. I feel I need to be honest and continue to build what I've built and that is to keep defending my belt at 185."

-During a media conference call on Thursday for next weekend's UFC 153 event in Brazil, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva reiterated previous statements saying he would not be making a permanent move to the light heavyweight division (transcribed by ESPN.com).

Penick's Analysis: I think it's fair for Silva to want to stay at 185 lbs. The only thing that goes against the final comment is his desire for the super fight with Georges St-Pierre instead of defending his belt early next year, but that fight is one that's been discussed for years. Silva is definitely undersized at light heavyweight, though that hasn't been a hindrance in his fights against Forrest Griffin and James Irvin. It may be against Stephan Bonnar next week, and it definitely would be against Jones, but he's remained adamant that he doesn't want to move to 205 lbs. permanently. He's got lots of fights left at middleweight, and as more fighters emerge in the next few years he will have no shortage of new opponents to square off against.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14580.shtml

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