Anderson Silva vs Roy Jones Jr still being discussed, Dana White says

Mixed martial arts superstar Anderson Silva, arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in the MMA game, still wants to fight Roy Jones Jr, the 44-year-old ex-P4P boxing great, and Dana White says that he is "talking" with Jones as Silva prepares to face Chris Weidman at UFC 162 on Saturday night.

Jones is in Las Vegas as a guest of UFC for this weekend's card.

"Roy Jones Jr. is coming to the fight," White told MMAjunkie.com. "Roy and I are talking."

But White does admit he's unsure why Silva wants the meeting to happen.

"It makes no sense to me. It makes no sense to me," he said. "I don't know why (Silva wants it). It's like these guys, when they grew up, they had their heroes or whatever their deal is, it's something they want to do or accomplish. This is something Anderson wants to do."

Silva has for years now expressed a desire to box Jones, which by the year turns into a worse idea as Roy fades further and further away from the boxing spotlight. There is absolutely no demand in the United States for Roy Jones fights anymore. He didn't go to Australia and Russia to fight for kicks, and the last time he fought in the U.S., he had a sparsely-attended club-level fight in Atlanta that was only available via online stream.

So whatever idea there may be out there that "Roy still has a name" is questionable at the very least. He still has a name, but so does Tommy Hearns. They're a lot closer in relevance than some may realize. Jones has no name value as an active fighter to American fight fans anymore. A lot of people still love the guy, but they love the memory of him in the ring, not what he currently can do.

For whatever reason, Silva is almost obsessed with this idea, that it will have something to do with his legacy or whatever. I mean, if it's that big a deal for him personally, then whatever, go ahead and do it, I suppose. Don't expect a major audience or anything, but I don't exactly fear for Roy Jones' safety in a boxing match with Anderson Silva, certainly not more than I did when he faced Denis Lebedev. I'm more in White's camp -- it makes no sense to me, either, but then neither of us are Anderson Silva, and if Anderson Silva is this hell-bent on trying to make this fight, then explore the option, I suppose.