Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva Is Going to Break a Bunch of Hearts
Jake Paul has done it again. For his next celebrity boxing match he's landed former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. At 47-years old, Silva is nearly twice Paul's age, but he's also the most legitimate opponent of Paul's career. When they fight on October 29th in Arizona, there is the potential for great devastation.
Either Paul will be brought back to Earth by an MMA legend who is a truly great striker, or Anderson Silva is going to get knocked out by a YouTube star. Whatever you expect to happen, if the opposite takes place, you're probably going to be bummed. Unless the fight just sucks, which is always a possibility.
Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva is a done deal, per sources. Oct. 29. Phoenix. Showtime PPV.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 6, 2022
When I first saw the official news my immediate reaction was that Paul was going to get destroyed, but then I looked at Silva's resume and realized it had been a decade since he was the Anderson Silva I remember. In the UFC he's gone 1-7 with one no contest since 2012. He has a few boxing wins against Julio César Chávez Jr. and Tito Ortiz, but that's not much more impressive than Paul's wins over Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.
Jake Paul knocking Silva out will break brains. It doesn't matter how far the current version of Silva is from the one we all remember:
The world will be much better off with Silva humanizing and theoretically humbling Paul. The Internet can handle a Milkshake Punch. Paul will continue to find ways to get young people to pay too much money to watch him do things. It's unlikely he ever finds a name as big and perfect as Silva ever again anyway. This is where the wave must break and turn back to the ocean. Jake Paul, legitimate boxer is the only other place we can go from here and the world is too weird for something so straight forward.
So prepare yourself for the events of October 29th. A dream will likely die. Either Paul's of another truly great payday or Silva's fans' of a time that has long passed, but still feels so recent and real. Whatever happens, it won't take long to wonder what we were thinking in the first place.