Despite champ's hesitation, White believes he'll convince Silva to fight Jones or GSP

http://mmajunkie.com/news/31133/despite-champs-hesitation-white-believes-hell-convince-silva-to-fight-jones-or-gsp.mma

Anderson Silva has three words, basically, about a potential superfight with Jon Jones. His boss has a three-word response.

Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) cruised past Stephan Bonnar (14-8 MMA, 8-7 UFC) in the UFC 153 main event on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The fight took place at light heavyweight, and speculation started immediately as to Silva's next challenge – a possible superfight with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Silva is hesitant to consider such a fight, but UFC President Dana White believes he can make it happen.

"I know my man says 'No, no, no,'" White said at Saturday's UFC 153 post-event news conference. "But the amount of money that would be offered for that fight, I guarantee you I will make Anderson Silva say, 'Yes, yes, yes.'"

Silva says such a fight, or any fight he's ever taken, has nothing to do with the money he makes.

"Since I started training martial arts, I never thought about the money," Silva told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I think everything I was able to get was because I did it with pleasure and love. When I started, there was no money in this and I didn't fight for money. Obviously, the money is important. We all need money, but I don't fight for the money."

Silva also believes there are potential challengers for Jones' 205-pound belt, including from within his own team of training partners, and he doesn't think Jones has much interest in the fight, either.

"This is not something I would like to happen because the times I've seen Jon Jones, he's also mentioned that he would not like to fight. (me)," Silva said. "We are UFC employees. I wouldn't like for this to happen because in our team, we have (Antonio Rodrigo) 'Minotauro' (Nogueira), we have (Rafael) 'Feijao' (Cavalcante), we have (Wagner) 'Caldeirao' (Prado).

"We have athletes in his division that can fight him. And I'm old. I'm getting old, guys."

But White believes he'll be able to sit in a room with Silva and his manager, Ed Soares, and negotiate either a superfight with Jones or with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

"There are so many options for him right now," White said. "He never ceases to amaze. And like he says, there's a lot of talented guys now in that 185-pound division. But as he says, he's at this point in his career where there are some superfights there. The Georges St-Pierre fight is a big fight. I think the Jon Jones fight is a big fight."

The fans certainly have been calling for either of those fights loud and clear since Jones continues to breeze through his competition the same way Silva has. St-Pierre, though, meets interim champ Carlos Condit next month in a title-unification fight at UFC 154 after being on the shelf since April 2011.

But no matter what Silva ultimately decides will come next for him, White's sure of his opinion on the champ.

"I think he's the greatest fighter in any combat sport. The things that this guy does are amazing," White said. "It's an honor to watch this guy fight."