Coach: I don't think Anderson Silva would like to fight Jon Jones

http://www.mmashareforums.com/serious-mma-discussion-f1/-anderson-silva-would-not-like-to-fight-jon-jones--t46301.html

Mike Winklejohn, Jon Jones' striking coach, discussed the learning curve of his product, as well as the potential superfight with the eternal UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva. According to Winklejohn, Jon Jones is not there just yet when it comes to KO power, but he's still much better than "The Spider" when it comes to "everything wrestling". Winklejohn also added, that stylistically Jon Jones is a bad match-up for Silva, who's well known for using his reach advantage to win fights.

Here's some bits of what Winklejohn said on Mauro Ranallo's "The MMA Show" (via FightOpinion):

MW: “You know what, I think with Anderson, Anderson is probably the best as far as the eyes going, watching an opponent and then knowing he can strike a certain time and put them on their ass. That’s what Anderson does and I think Jon’s getting there with his strikes. I think Jon’s much better, way past Anderson as far as wrestling skills go. With his stand-up I think Jon brings many more strikes to the table than Anderson has, a lot more variety. We’re just not there on a knockout type of shot, we’re going to get there pretty soon. We hurt Rampage many times during that fight with strikes, but we’re going to get there. We’re going to get those things fine-tuned. It’s just going to take just a little bit longer and we’ve only just begun. The future is definitely bright for Jon.”

MR: “What do you think about his learning curve right now? Where do you think he is?”
MW: “Oh, I think he’s there. You know what, down the road there’s no doubt he’s going to get some weight on and go to Heavyweight but he’s got a lot to do at Light Heavyweight. I don’t think Anderson would probably want that fight with Jon Jones. I think, you know, Anderson would use his length and pick his shot against people. With Jon coming in at so many different angles from a long range, I definitely don’t think that’s a good fight for Anderson. I think we’re here to stay in the Light Heavyweight division for a while and build a legend, something that hasn’t been done in a little bit of a while. The Light Heavyweight division has had a lot of turnover.”

UFC President Dana White recently suggested that Jon Jones will move up to Heavyweight, where he could test his skills against fighters such as Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir. Following the victory over Rampage Jackson, Jones improved his MMA record to 14-1, with 8 KO/TKO and 4 Submission finishes. Jones' only loss is via a controversial DQ against Matt Hamill.

I want to see it but I can clearly understand why Silva, especially at his age, wouldn't want to take on a young, athletic freak who will grow out of the light heavy division .

The problem I have is he's trying to fight GSP though. Looks weak trying to fight the smaller guy when you can fight someone that walks around at the same weight as you.

UBeeg9cats wrote:I want to see it but I can clearly understand why Silva, especially at his age, wouldn't want to take on a young, athletic freak who will grow out of the light heavy division .

he needs to step up and fight the best possible fight. That is Jones. Pac and Mayweather have done it in boxing and its time for someone in MMA to start to do the same.

I would love to see Silva vs Jones but I just don't see it happening. Silva has only fought at light heavy twice and both were against poor competition. I still think after watching the Silva vs Griffin fight that Griffin took a dive.

Forrest Griffin was not a poor opponent, he was a top ten ranked LHW at the time and also a former champion.

And since when has Silva been trying to fight GSP ? it's the fans who want it.

He said it in an interview.