Anderson Silva's manager open to Nick Diaz fight, dismisses Jon Jones and Chris Weidman match ups

Chris Weidman? Absolutely not! Jon Jones? No. What about Nick Diaz? Sure, why not?

One week after Jorge Guimaraes, Anderson Silva's manager, stated the only opponent that made sense for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion was none other than the promotion's welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre, Ed Soares -- Silva's other, more well-known manager and translator -- weighs in on who he feels is a viable option for "The Spider's" next challenge inside the Octagon.

Speaking to reporters at today's (Aug. 1, 2012) UFC on Fox 4 open workouts in Los Angeles, Calif., Soares stated "The Spider" camp would be open to entertaining a clash against the former 170-pound Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz because, simply put, "he comes out and fights every time."

Much like Guimaraes, Soares also went on to say that a fight against light heavyweight champion Jones doesn't make any sense for either party and Weidman is far from deserving a title shot.

Make the jump to see the comments (via MMA Fighting) for yourself:

"I don't think it's a good fight. I think No. 1, Jon Jones, said he doesn't want the fight, and Anderson said he doesn't want the fight. What is it going to do for Jones if he goes go down in weight to fight Anderson? If he loses it's going to ruin him. If Anderson Silva moves up in weight and fights Jon Jones, here's a lighter guy who's going to take my title? C'mon dude. Anderson is fighting a much younger guy, a much bigger guy, and Jon Jones is going to be fighting a smaller guy who technically could be better than him. I can see why each guy wouldn't want to fight. What's the upside? Dana can't force anyone to fight at a bigger weight class. Anderson is the 185-pound champion. He'll fight anyone you put in front of him. So make Jon Jones make 185 pounds if you want that to happen."

Soares sarcastically dismissed Weidman's credentials when asked if he would be a potential next challenger:

"I mean, because he had an impressive win over Mark Munoz and Maia? Sure."

When it came to a showdown with Nick Diaz, however, Soares was more receptive:

"Sure, we'll consider anyone the UFC puts in front of us, I don't have a choice. Nick Diaz is a good opponent possibly, I mean, he's a smaller guy, but he's a guy who comes out and fights every time, he's going to put on a good fight. I don't know what's going to happen, that's a question for Dana and [UFC matchmaker Joe] Silva."

Diaz, via his head trainer Cesar Gracie, recently expressed interest in challenging the Brazilian, though he has no interest in his title, once he returns from a suspension the was handed down by the powers that be over at the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for his failure of a UFC 143 post-fight drug test that revealed the Stockton slugger had marijuana metabolites in his system.

Before you all get your hopes up, the UFC has yet to make a decision as to who exactly will take on Silva next, plus, there is still a matter of Nick serving out his suspension, which still has six months remaining.

So we all sit and wait patiently, on the edge of our seats, to see who indeed becomes the (un) lucky winner of "The Spider" sweepstakes.

Tick-tock.