Jake Paul has revealed that Anderson Silva labelled him a "champion" when the pair bowed to each other after their fight.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, 25, extended his unbeaten boxing run to six professional fights last month by dropping UFC legend Silva on the way to a points win over him. 47-year-old Silva was widely considered the toughest challenge of Paul's boxing career so far, but 'The Problem Child' passed the test with flying colours.
Silva got down on his knees after the fight as a sign of respect to Paul, who matched the Brazilian as they exchanged a few words, but it was unclear what was said as the video broadcast was unable to pick up the audio. When Paul's brother Logan asked what was said in the exchange during a recent episode of Impaulsive, Paul replied: “Oh, he said, ‘No one can ever talk about you again’. He said, ‘No one can ever talk about you again, you are a champion’.”
Paul was unable to maintain his 100 per cent record of knocking out every professional opponent he's faced by going the distance with Silva, who agreed to help the American start up an association to improve conditions for MMA fighters after agreeing on it in their pre-fight bet.
Fans accused Paul of "fixing" his win over Silva, claiming the punch that dropped him in the eighth round "didn't land". Paul told The MMA Hour of the claims: "I lose faith in my generation and my peers and us as a society and a world when I see that type of stuff and that type of stupidity. It just sucks. It sucks because I worked so hard for this. I think smart people with intelligence are giving me props and respect.
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"I dedicate everything, sacrifice everything, every single day, bust my balls, have a 15-person team working around the clock to help me become the best boxer possible, and when I do something like beating Anderson Silva, they try to take it away from me. But I know deep down, and I guess that’s all that really matters."
Less than two weeks after the Silva fight, Paul could already have his next opponent lined up as he faced off with controversial kickboxer Andrew Tate in a Dubai boxing gym. Tate has been linked to a fight with Paul ever since getting huge online fame at the beginning of this year, with Paul teasing "negotiations" between the two parties.
