Mixed Martial Arts fans are still hoping to see a showdown between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, but the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion said that he is not interested in facing "The Spider."

Jones, who is set to defend his title against Daniel Cormier on Jan. 3 at UFC 182, said that he does not want to ruin his friendship with Silva by facing him in a super fight in the near future.

"I just don't want to be the guy to beat him, even though it's happened already," Silva told Fox Sports. "I don't want to lose to him. I don't want to beat him."

Jones recently had a sparring session with Silva in Las Vegas. According to Jones, the sparring session will be the only opportunity for him to face Silva. He reiterated that he won't agree to face Silva even if the fans are clamoring for it, expressing high respect to the Brazilian MMA legend, who is considered as one of the greatest of all time.

"I just look up to him so much," Jones said of Silva. "I don't have many people that I've been able to look at in my lifetime and just think, wow, how cool is it to be that guy? Look at what he's done. Jordan, LeBron, Anderson, Kobe. I consider them all in the same type of class. The Jeters. Athletes of that caliber don't come around too often."

Instead of facing Silva and ruining their close relationship, Jones, who holds an impressive 20-1 record, said that he wants the 39-year-old to serve as his mentor for his future fights.

"Once you fight somebody all that stuff kind of goes out the window," Jones added. "So I would love to have him in my back pocket as that mentor, advisor, someone I can talk to in the next few years to come, instead of the quick check and then you just ruin a legit friendship with one of the greatest fighters of all time."

Silva will make his return from a long layoff on Jan. 31 at UFC 183. The former UFC middleweight champion has not fought since suffering a gruesome leg injury during his rematch against Chris Weidman in December last year.

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