Anderson Silva might be willing to move up in weight to fight Stephan Bonnar, but he won't fight light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
"There are many possibilities, but fighting Jon Jones is one of them that I don't think is possible," Silva said today during a press conference in support of UFC 153. "There's no way."
The middleweight champ's proclamation was the latest of several objections to the superfight, which has drawn heated interest from fans since Silva's record-setting 10th consecutive title defense earlier this year.
A meeting between Silva (32-4 MMA, 15-0 UFC) and Jones (16-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) would be one of the sport's most marketable matchups, with both champs on extended runs of dominance. Both, however, have demurred on the idea of fighting each other.
On a recent media call for Saturday's event, which takes place at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Silva acknowledged the clamor of interest in a bout with Jones. Not just from fans, but his boss, UFC President Dana White.
But while a trip up to light heavyweight to headline Stephan Bonnar was possible due to the lack of weight-cutting time available, an extended stay would be "pretentious."
"There's other guys in that weight class on our team like Rafael (Cavalcante), (Antonio Rogerio) Nogueira ... (and) other guys that could potentially face Jones in the future.
"I'm 37 years old, and I feel like I need to be honest and continue what I've built, which is keep defending my belt at 185."
White has all but scoffed at Silva's previous assertions and said the champ changed his tune about meeting welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC).
"Anderson and Jones are saying, 'hey, we're buddies,' or 'we don't want to fight' or whatever the deal is," White said in September. "But [Jones] didn't want to fight Rashad either, and that happened."
During an open workout for UFC 153, Silva even said that St-Pierre was one of his main focuses in advance of his meeting with Bonnar, which serves as Saturday's headliner.
But Jones, who is currently recovering from an elbow injury sustained at UFC 152, is out of the picture.
