Roy Jones Jr. would un-retire quickly to fight ex-UFC champ Anderson Silva

LAS VEGAS – Former boxing champ and pound-for-pound great Roy Jones Jr. is set to retire after he faces Scott Sigmon on Feb. 8 in his hometown of Pensacola, Fla.

But Jones gladly would step back into the ring if he could put together a fight with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

“Of course (I would), because it’s not a fight – it’s an event,” said Jones, who was at the UFC’s Performance Institute in Las Vegas today to promote his final bout, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass. “And events always interest me. It’s a huge event that interests both of us.”

Silva (34-8 MMA, 17-4 UFC) and Jones (65-9 boxing) repeatedly pushed to fight each other in the square circle during Silva’s reign as UFC middleweight champ. The bout never materialized, however, and the idea died down as they moved on to other challenges.

Jones tried to make the fight happen on several occasions, pushing UFC President Dana White in 2009 and 2013. He expected the bout to do huge business at the box office, but he said White always had “other plans” for Silva.

As it turned out, the idea of a crossover boxing fight was simply before its time. Three years after Jones and White last talked about the possibility, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and undefeated boxing kingpin Floyd Mayweather (50-0) fought in the second biggest domestic pay-per-view event of all time.

Jones’ passion for a meeting with Silva hasn’t waned through all the years. Seeing the success of “The Money Fight” only fed it.

“I was so interested (in the fight with Silva), because I knew that, just like the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather fight turned out to be one of the best events of all time, I knew that the Roy Jones vs. Anderson Silva event would have been one of the best events of all time,” he said. “So when you talk boxing, it’s one thing, when you talk MMA fighting, it’s another thing, but when you talk events, it’s a whole other light.

“It’s still something people would want to see. I definitely would watch it, even if I wasn’t even Roy Jones. I would still want to watch it, because I want to see how good he is pulling off Roy’s tricks, and could he use those tricks against him. Yet I’d also want to see what Roy came up with new and different because he’s confident about the old stuff. You’ve got to come up with something different. It’s more of an event than a boxing match, and events always outweigh boxing matches.”

Jones recently told TMZ Sports that Silva hasn’t lost interest in the fight. The only problem is, White still hasn’t given his blessing. Silva’s temporary suspension by UFC anti-doping partner USADA can’t be helping matters; the ex-champ was scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 122 opposite Kelvin Gastelum (13-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) this past November before the unfortunate news.

If the fight did happen, though, Jones said he would take it as seriously as any previous matchup.

“I would get in top shape and be ready to win it, because I’m not planning on losing nothing,” he said. “Only thing I’m going to lose is weight.”

Now that the blueprint has been established by McGregor and Mayweather, Jones said it only benefits both sports to start thinking creatively about how to pair boxing and MMA for big events.

“When you see two guys come together and make over $100 million, do you think it’s good for each other? You’d be a fool if you didn’t support UFC and boxing, because look what you all can do together,” he said.

For more from Jones, check out the video above of his full meeting with the media in Las Vegas.

And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.