Jake Paul improved to 4-0 as a professional boxer after icing Tyron Woodley in their rematch on Dec. 18, 2021 (see it here). Afterward, “The Problem Child” hit the campaign trail, calling out several Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters, chief among them Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
But, calling out a fighter under UFC contract is an obvious dead-end because, well, the athlete is totally unavailable and — unless it’s Conor McGregor — Dana White is not about to release a fighter from his contract for a one-off boxing match.
And that’s the reason Chris Weidman is hoping Paul shifts his focus to a legit striker who is not bound by a UFC contract. And it’s someone “All American” knows all too well.
“I would love to see him fight Anderson Silva,” Weidman said on Won’t Back Down podcast (via MMA Junkie). “He’s calling out all these fighters with UFC contracts. I don’t think he’s really – none of those are really going to happen at this point.
“UFC would have to get behind it almost like a Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather-type match,” he continued. “But, unless you’re drawing in $500 million like the Mayweather and Conor McGregor fights were doing, UFC’s not doing that because they want to split it. They would split it, but if it’s not that type of money, they’re not doing it. So (we’re) wasting our time even talking about (Nate) Diaz, (Jorge) Masvidal and (Kamaru) Usman.”
Silva has experience in the boxing world, earning a 3-1 record as a professional, including a huge win over former WBC Middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. “The Spider” was most recently starching Tito Ortiz in just 80 seconds in September (highlights).
While Silva — now 46 years old — is not the same fighter he was during his epic run as UFC 185-pound champion, he does have the striking technique that could give Paul his toughest test to date ... right?
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