Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is looking at a lengthy time away from the Octagon following a second failed drug test earlier this year.
So what will “The Spider” do next? How about that much-talked about boxing match with Roy Jones Jr.
Silva took to social media to make sure he let Jones know that he is more than down with stepping inside the boxing ring.
“Ok Roy Jr this is everything I’ve wanted for years, long before all this happened, it will be a pleasure to step into the ring with you,” he wrote on Instagram. “I have great respect and admiration for everything you’ve done in boxing and everyone knows that this has always been my great dream. Let’s make this event happen. I think we have this right, in fact this is something that both You and I are willing to do. So. Let’s make it happen, Mr. Roy.”
Jones told The Ask Gary Vee Show that he is willing to exchange with Silva.
“I’m still trying to fight Anderson Silva right now,” Jones said (thanks to MMA Fighting for transcribing). “Me and Anderson Silva have been trying to fight way before Floyd Mayweather and McGregor ever thought about this. We’ve been trying to fight for nine years now and they would not let him get free to fight me.
“Me and him could have did this a long time ago and we were at the pinnacle of our careers when we first started talking about it so why they still won’t let us fight right now, I don’t know.”
Jones captured boxing titles in four different weight classes and is a six-time former champion in all. He has posted a record of 65-9 with 47 wins via knockout, having also captured silver at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.
Silva is 34-8 with a no-contest in his MMA career and has fought twice as a pro boxing, going 1-1 with a win via knockout and a loss via knockout. His victory came in 2005 and the loss dates back to 1998.
