By Prmezek Garczarczyk

49-year-old former world champion Roy Jones Jr. (65-9, 47 KOs) ends his career in seven days (February 8) in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. Roy will face Scott Sigmon (30-11-1, 16 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round cruiserweight fight at the Pensacola Bay Center. It will be streamed live via UFC Fight Pass.

“Several years ago, we approached Dana [White at the UFC] about doing a boxing match between Roy and Anderson Silva,” said John Wirt, CEO of Square Ring Promotions. “We had several discussions, on and off over the years, about that fight. It was our concept but, of course, Mayweather ended up doing it first.”

“There were several networks interested in televising Roy’s last fight, but we knew that Dana was interested going into boxing,” Wirt continued. “He was first a Roy Jones Junior fan before he got into MMA. McGee [Wright, Jones’ manager,] has developed a good relationship with Dana and was the one who got the deal with Dana done.

“If the UFC wants to get into boxing, there is no doubt in my mind that they have the infrastructure and finances to be a major player. It’s actually kind of funny because I recall when I was Don King’s attorney, meeting with Dana in the late 90’s about DKP investing into the UFC and getting into MMA. The whole thing, boxing and MMA, it has really gone full circle.”