Anderson Silva Suggests Dana White, Jake Paul Should Fight to Settle Beef

Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson Silva believes his old boss should lace up the gloves and do some fighting for himself.

UFC head Dana White recently stated that Silva might be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in the future, and Silva had some thoughts about his former employer he wanted to get out. Silva is planning on boxing Jake Paul at the end of October, and White was not entirely sold on the whole endeavor while expressing his distaste for the YouTuber-turned-boxer. “The Spider” spoke with Brazilian outlet Combate this week, initially to promote his boxing match with Jake Paul, scheduled for Oct. 29 in Phoenix.

“If the two of them have a problem, I think Dana should agree to fight Jake, that would end all this controversy,” Silva remarked. “Put [on] the gi, do MMA. Jake understands a lot about MMA, so I think it would be a nice MMA fight for the two of them.”

Getting the topic back on track to his own upcoming fight, Silva had some thoughts about his meeting with Paul at their Tuesday press conference. When Paul appeared respectful while still promising to knock Silva out, the Brazilian legend was not surprised.

“It’s cool that he promotes and thinks that way,” Silva admitted. “This will give our team more motivation and for me to keep doing my best. When you respect, you will receive respect. When you don’t respect, you will receive disrespect too. It’s a two-way street, what goes around comes around, and I have a lot of experience within this game. For me, it doesn’t matter if the guy talks nonsense or not, what will change is when he goes inside [the ring]. And when you go inside, where I come from, the talk doesn’t matter, you go to kill or get killed. Both step in the ring to rip each other’s head off.”

Silva made sure to specify that he is not fighting on behalf of MMA fighters everywhere. Paul has earned three wins over ex-UFC talents Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren, but Silva is not appearing to avenge those losses or to fight for the MMA masses.

“I’m not here to fight Jake for revenge or to represent the MMA community,” Silva explained. “I’m here to represent my fans, to represent all the people who enjoy the fight itself. And keep showing my respect for boxing. Unlike other sports, not belittling other sports, a lot of people died for boxing. A lot of people lost their lives fighting [in] boxing. A lot of people live a completely vegetable [lives] because of boxing, because they gave their lives for boxing. And I can’t go into this sport and not show my respect, that’s why I train very seriously, I train every day seriously and I train with serious people to show my respect for boxing. Regardless of whether or not I am accepted by the boxing community, I need to show my respect for this sport.”

Spider also commented on Paul’s statement that his purse for this fight would be the biggest in his entire career.

“I don't know, I can't tell you that,” a cheeky Silva said. “Maybe after the fight I can talk to you. What I can tell you is that I was never underpaid inside by UFC, because there was always a fight there. I have a good life, which I can maintain. Money isn’t even the most important thing for me. The most important thing is to be well, doing what I love, with the people I like, being able to enjoy my life. Playing paintball, video games, having fun with my kids and my friends. That’s the most important thing for me, to live my life the best I can.”