Jon Jones is currently out of action as his heavyweight debut has been stalled because of a breakdown in negotiations between him and the UFC. The former light-heavyweight champion, Jones, who has been away for a year, has used the time to bulk up to be in the correct frame as a heavyweight.

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‘Bones’, who has been very active on social media, interacts with fans regularly. One fan asked Jones who he believes is the biggest Brazilian fighter in the UFC. Jones replied, “Silva is always going to be a hero of mine. I’ve probably watched his fight footage for over 100 hours.”

Brazil has had many outstanding fighters grace the UFC Octagon. Several UFC champions, including the likes of Jose Aldo, ‘The Spider’, and more hail from the South American country. However, one can understand why Silva is such a hero to Jones.

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‘The Spider’, a true Octagon legend, was considered one of the best middleweights ever to grace the cage. He had a legendary 16-fight winning streak in the UFC before his loss to Chris Weidman. Even to this day, those accomplishments are regarded highly.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 30: Anderson Silva of Brazil poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in at UFC APEX on October 30, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Silva, who had his last UFC fight in 2020, has retired from MMA. However, he is not done fighting. ‘The Spider’ will make his debut inside the boxing ring against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2021.

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Jon Jones vs Anderson Silva: A fight that never happened?

Jones vs Silva was once touted to be a super-fight that fans wanted to see. Silva was still at the top of his game back then. Also, ‘The Spider‘ had fought in the light-heavyweight division many times. So naturally, fans wanted to see two of the greatest fighters of this generation throw down inside the Octagon.

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HOUSTON, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 08: Jon Jones in his fight against Dominick Reyes in their UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout during UFC 247 at Toyota Center on February 08, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

However, Silva’s fall from grace and Jones having to serve multiple suspensions during that time period meant that fight never actually materialized. It would have been an impressive spectacle for the fans to see how Jon would have handled such a diverse striker like Silva.

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Who do you think would have won a fight between ‘Bones’ and ‘The Spider’? Let us know.

Also Read: ‘The Biggest Fan Favorite Fight on the Entire Planet’- Michael Chandler on a Fight Against Justin Gaethje

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Apratim Banerjee

1,260 Articles

Apratim Banerjee is a senior UFC author for EssentiallySports and has been writing professionally for almost a year. Before his current gig, Apratim worked as a UFC writer for Sportskeeda. A long-time MMA fan, Apratim has developed a critical eye for the sport that has helped him transfer his vast knowledge to his copies and give hardcore and casual readers a detailed insight into the fights and fighters. Dan Henderson’s brutal knockout against Michael Bisping at UFC 100 in 2009 is one of his earliest memories of the sport. He has never missed a UFC PPV or a Fight Night since, which speaks volumes about his wealth of MMA knowledge. Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, Conor McGregor are some of his favorite fighters. Apart from this, Apratim plays soccer in his free time and loves scoring long-distance goals.

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