Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva will go ahead after the fight briefly fell into jeopardy following comments made by the UFC icon that he had been knocked out twice in sparring. The Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission called an urgent last-minute meeting on Thursday night to review the evidence and decide on the next course of action.
They have since given the contest the green light after running extensive tests on the 47-year-old former MMA fighter. Commission chairman Scott Fletcher said at the meeting that he came away ‘impressed’ by how Silva was able to articulate himself while answering questions.
Fletcher said that Silva submitted a “pristine” MRI and he was “completely comfortable” with allowing him to fight. A few minutes after the news broke, Paul tweeted: “Stop playing with me! #PaulSilva is 1000% happening.”
This all comes after Silva told MMA Weekly: “And the last sparring with [my sparring partner], he is knocked me out two times, and when I finish my training, I talked to my coach and even said, ‘coach, let me tell you something, why the guys knock me out two times?’
“The interview with MMA Weekly was done on Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent.”
Paul vs Silva takes place on October 29 at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. This will be Paul’s sixth professional outing after a frustrating ten months out of the ring. He has won all five of his bouts so far against fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib, NBA player Nate Robinson, MMA fighter Ben Askren and former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley twice.
Meanwhile, Silva is 3-1 as a pro boxer with recent wins over ex-WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and MMA legend Tito Ortiz.