By Luke Furman

44-year-old former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr. (57-8, 40KOs) is still motivated to face a recognizable name from the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

For years, Jones was pondering the possibility of facing former UFC champion Anderson Silva (33-6 in MMA, 16-2 in the UFC).

On Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Jones was sitting ringside and witnessed his dream of a Silva fight go up in smoke when Silva was stopped in the second round by Chris Weidman (11-0).

During the fight, Silva badly broke his left shin and the serious injury will prevent him from taking part in any form of fighting for at least a year or possibly for good.

With Silva on the shelf, Jones is not targeting another former champion in MMA - 30-year-old Nick Diaz (26-9), who suffered back to back decision losses to Carlos Condit and Georges St. Pierre.

A few years ago, Diaz flirted with the idea of facing a boxer - and targeted former champion Jeff Lacy. The fight never happened and Diaz went back to MMA.

Jones told MMA reporter Ariel Helwani that he approached UFC president Dana White about his desire to face Diaz. White told Jones "he would think about it."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org