:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71302157/1283263722.0.jpg "Jake Paul expected to fight Anderson Silva in October boxing bout")
According to TMZ Sports (so all the caveats go here), Jake Paul and former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will compete in a boxing match this October.
The 47-year-old “Spider” Silva is one of the best MMA athletes to ever get in the cage, but has fallen on hard times and lost eight of his last nine fights in the cage (though one was later overturned). He has won once as an MMA fighter since October of 2012, which is what followed his term as the longest-reigning UFC champion ever from October 2006 until July 2013. His current MMA record is 34-11.
Silva has gone 2-0 since returning to boxing, including an 81-second knockout of reality star and former smalltown California mayor Tito Ortiz last September. He won an eight-round split decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. the previous June in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Paul is 5-0 as a boxer, knocking out another former UFC champion in Tyron Woodley in his last bout in December of 2021. Proposed fights with Tommy Fury, younger brother of current undisputed world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and Hasim Rahman Jr., son of the eponymous former heavyweight champion. But both were scratched by the other fighter, and Paul was left without an opponent at fights where he was also the promoter.