Former UFC champion Chris Weidman has questioned why Jake Paul is not calling out Anderson Silva for a boxing fight.
Weidman won the UFC middleweight title from Silva in 2013, before retaining it against the Brazilian at the end of the year. Silva, considered by many to be the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, recently stepped over into boxing.
In his first boxing bout, in March, the 46-year-old beat former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez via split decision. Silva then knocked out former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the first round of their clash in September.
Meanwhile, YouTube star Paul is 5-0 as a professional boxer, most recently recording back-to-back wins over ex-UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. The 24-year-old outpointed Woodley in August, before knocking him out this month.
Paul proceeded to call out UFC stars Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal and Conor McGregor, leading Weidman to say on his Won’t Back Down podcast: “He’s calling out smaller guys than him.
“Anderson Silva is not [under UFC] contract, he’s a professional boxer, he’s been looking great.
“He just beat a former world champion boxer, and they’re right around the same size.
“Why aren’t we hearing him call Anderson Silva out? I would love to see that.
“He’s calling out all of these fighters with UFC contracts, and none of those are really gonna happen at this point. UFC would have to get behind it – kind of a Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather type match.
“And unless you’re drawing in $50million like the Mayweather and Conor McGregor fights were doing, the UFC’s not doing that, because they would want to split it.
“If it’s not that type of money, they’re not doing it, so we’re wasting our time talking about Diaz, Masvidal, Usman. It’s just a waste of time, but that’s how he’s amping himself up and making himself sound like he’ll fight anybody.”
Paul has expressed his desire to take a brief break from boxing following his most recent win.
Prior to his victories over Woodley, Paul knocked out fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib, ex-NBA star Nate Robinson, and former MMA champion Ben Askren.