Jake Paul will face his toughest challenge to date when he takes on UFC legend Anderson Silva on October 29.
Paul, 25, is expected to meet Silva, 47, in his sixth professional fight according to YouTube news show host Keemstar. The news comes after Paul teased the announcement on Twitter, writing: "Just got the call. Massive opponent announcement this week. October."
The fight will mark the opponent Paul has faced with a professional boxing record so far, having previously fought YouTuber AnEsonGib, former NBA star Nate Robinson and now-retired MMA champions Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley. Silva, who left the UFC in 2020, is 3-1 in boxing with his lone loss coming over 20 years ago in his ring debut.
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Silva earned two wins in the boxing ring last year, impressively outpointing former middleweight world titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in his first boxing fight for over 15 years. 'The Spider' returned to the ring four months later to knockout a fellow UFC legend in Tito Ortiz, dispatching him in just over a minute.
The Brazilian is considered as one of, if not the, greatest MMA fighters of all time. During the prime of his career, Silva went unbeaten for eight years and was one of the most feared finishers in the UFC. Silva holds several records that will be hard to top in the UFC, such as the longest title reign (2457 days) and longest winning streak at 16 fights.
Silva has shown his respect for the Paul brothers throughout the early stages of their boxing career and has previously suggested he is open to a ring meeting against either of them. He told Sports Illustrated of a potential fight with Jake or Logan: “It’s possible. People need to respect the Paul brothers. Those kids are talented, and they’ve opened people’s eyes about the good and bad in combat sports. I’m preparing my body for a challenge. We’ll see what happens."
Paul has previously labelled Silva as one of his fighting idols and has a great amount of respect for the 47-year-old. The fight will mark Paul's first of this year, with his previous bookings against Tommy Fury and Hasim Rahman Jr falling through. Fury was denied entry to the United States before Paul moved on from the fight and chose Rahman Jr as a replacement, but that fight was scratched because of a row over the weight limit.
