“A fight is a fight. It’s a mission.”
Former UFC champion Anderson Silva is set to take on Jake Paul at the end of the month. And as it is in combat sports, everyone has that puncher’s chance, and even a relatively inexperienced fighter like “The Problem Child” can pull an upset.
With the possibility of losing to a former YouTuber turned 5-0 pro boxer, Silva explained his mindset entering the bout in a recent sitdown with the Nelk Boys on the Full Send podcast.
“A fight is a fight. It’s a mission. You have the soldiers and you train your soldiers for the mission. And sometimes, you lose the mission. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you win,” he said.
“But I training for win. I don’t training for lose. And the fight happens, I win, OK, I’m win. I lose? Keep doing, let’s go. I don’t go (in there) to lose.”
The 47-year-old Silva, who restarted his pro boxing career in 2021, has made it about showing respect for the sport more than anything else.
“I don’t know (if) I go knock out Jake Paul or not. But I promise I go prove my respect for boxing world. That’s my goal. I train with the GOAT Olympic game guy in boxing. That’s why I train (with) professional boxers. That’s why I do my best every day.
“That’s what I need to do, prove my respect for boxing. Boxing’s very interesting because not to disrespect other sports, but in boxing, a lot of people die to make the sport huge. A lot of people lost everything to make the sport huge.
“I can’t come to the sport and don’t do my best and prove my respect for boxing. It’s not about knocking out Jake Paul or knocking out other opponents. It’s just go inside and prove your respect for boxing.”
Silva has since gone on a 2-0 run (3-1 in pro boxing overall), defeating Julio Cesar Chavez and most recently, fellow ex-UFC champion Tito Ortiz. And after the Jake Paul boxing match, he wants another fight, this time with rules that favor him a bit more.
“I go talk to Jake and say, ‘Let’s go do one more fight, but exhibition, kickboxing. You kick me, I can kick you. But I promise I don’t go kick you hard.’”
Silva vs. Paul happens on October 29 in Arizona.