Anderson Silva doesn’t feel a need to beat Jake Paul for all of the MMA fans out there.
Anderson Silva is considered to be one of the best fighters the UFC has ever seen. For over fourteen years Silva dominated the UFC middleweight division. He holds the record for most UFC fights one in a row at 16 and is said to be one of the greatest of all time. Now that his UFC career is over Silva is looking to continue his legacy in a new way. He will be taking on the YouTuber turned boxer, Jake Paul, in October.
When this bout was first announced many MMA fans became excited. Jake Paul has made a name for himself by beating former UFC fighters and champions in the boxing ring. He took down Ben Askren who was a multi-time MMA champion in ONE Championship and Bellator, he also took out former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley twice. But when it comes to Anderson Silva fans think this may be the end of the road for Paul. It is a lot of pressure to be put on Silva, he seems to be representing the entire MMA community in this fight. When asked about this on The MMA hour with Ariel Helwani, Silver responded to these claims calmly.
“Everybody thinks I’m in this fight to represent the MMA community now, but for me it’s more than that. I think here I need to earn the respect for boxing commodity,” he said. “A lot of people talking about, ‘oh you represent the MMA, you need to beat in this guy and blah, blah’ and I say, ‘Guys, listen, fight is fight.’ I don’t go putting this in my mind because everybody has your own journey and my journey inside the MMA stopped when I stop inside UFC. I don’t need to represent the MMA community anymore, because the people know how I work for the MMA community. Now I need to prove my respect for boxing community and that what I try to do.”
Silva feels there is still much more to accomplish in the world of combat sports
A bout with Paul is at the forefront of Silva’s docket at the moment but he will not stop there. Silva knows that there is much more ahead of him in the world of combat sports. He is already looking forward to transitioning to grappling when the boxing match with Paul is finished. He spoke a bit about his legacy and what he wants the future to hold for the 47-year-old former MMA fighter.
“For many, many years, I have a contract with the big company and I’m stopped from doing something more but this is the past now,” he said. “It is about future, is about my legacy, and I continue to do my best in boxing and in a different sports too and I think after this fight with Jake, I’m I go to Dubai to start training jiu-jitsu with my jujitsu coach Ramon Lemos to a tournament, I go inside the tournament, and I’m so excited to continue fighting, to continue putting my heart in training and tests myself, test my mind, my body.”
Silva will be taking on Paul on October 30 live from The Gila River Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
