The YouTuber-turned-pro-boxer Jake Paul is now set to face the former UFC middleweight champion and combat sports icon Anderson Silva on October 29 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The card airs on Showtime pay-per-view. Paul and Silva recently did a two-city media tour where they talked up the bout and engaged in pre-fight faceoffs. Paul said the promotion hasn’t reached its boiling point, either, with a special “All Access” series and more still to debut.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Paul showed off some of his MMA fighting skills from training.
Jake Paul "got in trouble" for sharing plans of an MMA move, but was willing to show off a few skills.@MikeBohn's interview: https://t.co/wsLQ4dvVGa pic.twitter.com/vHz4Ikexbc
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 5, 2022
Jake Paul talks about possible sales of his fight against Anderson Silva
Paul believes that the combination of Silva’s fanbase with his own should make for a blockbuster event that could trend well beyond half-a-million pay-per-view buy:
“I do think this will be the biggest pay-per-view (of my career),” Paul told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I would be happy with anywhere from 300-500,000, but I think it can get up anywhere to like 600 or 700,000, depending on how the fight week goes and the promotion and if ‘All Access’ performs well. I think this could be the biggest one for sure.”
He has racked up wins over former MMA champions Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren. Paul attempted to turn into a public desire to fight a “real boxer,” with scheduled bouts against Tommy Fury and Hasim Rakhman Jr. Neither came to fruition, so Paul went to a fight against an MMA legend in Silva.
With much of the MMA community rooting against Paul, Silva has been reluctant to say he’s representing his former sport inside the ring.
Paul, however, begs to differ.
“He’s definitely representing the MMA community. I think he just doesn’t want that pressure, maybe because even Tyron (Woodley) said the same thing,” Paul said. “Clearly they are representing the MMA community, and tons of the MMA fans want to see me lose, because there is a feud between us all. So he definitely is representing his legacy and all that. And the reason this fight is happening is because Dana White said I wouldn’t do it. So I had to check his bluff and prove to everyone, including him, that I’m not scared of Anderson Silva. … So this is definitely MMA vs. I guess myself.”
