Jake Paul floored Anderson Silva in the final round to ensure victory over the UFC legend.
The YouTuber-turned boxer bettered Silva on points in Arizona, scoring a knockdown in the eighth and final round.
Paul was ahead on all three scorecards going into the eighth session before a right hand dumped Silva on the canvas. The Brazilian recovered to see out the remainder of the bout before slipping to his second boxing defeat.
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“Man it’s a surreal moment but hard work pays off,” Paul said. “I want to say thank you to Anderson, he inspired me to be great. Without him, we wouldn’t have a fight this year. I have nothing but respect for him. I started boxing two and a half years ago and I’ve just beaten one of the best strikers ever.”
Paul, 25, was looking for his sixth professional win against 47-year-old UFC icon Silva having previously beaten fellow content creator AnEsonGib, NBA star Nate Robinson and former MMA champions Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.
Since parting ways with the UFC two years ago after his legendary run in the promotion, Silva had won fights against former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and fellow MMA veteran Tito Ortiz.
The fight started with the Phoenix crowd roaring in support of Silva, who looked to extremely calm and wasn’t biting on the feints of Paul. There was little output from Silva in the opening round as Paul favoured the body, but it was Silva who landed the best punch of the round with a hard left hook. Silva was dancing around the ring and taunting Paul by urging him to come forward, with the YouTuber struggling to land punches on the backfoot.
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Paul started to up his output in the fourth round, finding success off his jab thanks to the low guard of Silva. The Brazilian’s awkward head movement was causing problems for Paul and he landed a good flurry come the midway point of the fight. Paul was getting caught by Silva’s uppercut as they broke from the clinch and it was neck and neck heading into the sixth round.
Fans were getting restless and the lack of output from both men, but Paul silenced their boos with a good flurry before Silva fired back with one of his own. The UFC legend continued to have his best moments when Paul was backed up against the ropes, drowning him with pressure and to set up combinations.
Both men upped their output in the final round and Paul scored the first knockdown of the fight by dropping Silva with a big right hand. The Brazilian recovered well and got back to his feet to walk Paul down, but he was eating jabs in the process. Silva refused to give in despite being dropped, but it wasn’t enough as the judges saw it 77-74, 78-73, 78-73 after the final bell.
On the undercard, 18-year-old prospect Ashton Sylve – the first fighter to be signed by Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions – remained unbeaten by knocking out Braulio Rodriguez in just 61-seconds. Sylve, who walked to the ring in a bizarre outfit, left Rodriguez face-first on the canvas by flooring him with a check hook. Rodriguez got back to his feet but stumbled into the ropes and the fight was waved off as Sylve picked up his eighth win, keeping his 100 per cent knockout rate intact
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