The Oct. 29th boxing match between YouTuber Jake Paul and MMA legend Anderson Silva will continue despite Silva’s previous claims he got knocked out twice while sparring in preparation for the fight, the Nevada Athletics Commission announced Friday.
TMZ first reported the news.
The commission convened Thursday night to investigate claims in which Silva told an MMA magazine that he suffered two knockouts during training and that his trainer said he was “preparing [Silva] for war.”
Silva later clarified those remarks to TMZ:
“After seeing the reports and concern for me, I’d like to clarify two important things,” Silva said. “One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring.”
“Second, this sparring session I referenced was in early September. The interview with MMA Weekly was done on Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent.”
Silva’s answers must have satisfied the commission, as the fight is scheduled for Saturday night on pay-per-view.
Paul was last in the ring on August 2021 when he defeated Tyron Woodley by a split decision. Silva last fought in October 2020 at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. He suffered a TKO loss in the main event.
[TMZ]