Really?
After initial rumors, TMZ has followed up and reported that Jake Paul’s next opponent will really be UFC legend Anderson Silva.
While teasing the next match up, Paul’s boxing promotion, Most Valuable Promotions tweeted out that the YouTuber will “almost certainly” be the underdog this time, saying “he knows that and he wants that.”
Nope! Well at least at the start.
For some reason, the betting odds opened with Paul as the slight favorite. Outlets opened up their lines and initially had the YouTuber as high as a -180 favorite. Odds on Silva, opened up having him as a slight underdog at +150.
If you think that’s weird, so did other early bettors. In a matter of hours, the odds have already started to shift with a lot of money coming in on the UFC great.
Pro Boxing Odds has tracked the betting lines with Paul going from a -180 favorite to a +130 underdog in just a few hours. As of this writing, Silva is now a -160 favorite, and it could shift even more if people still think that’s a good value bet.
Paul is 5-0 in his young boxing career. Silva, who retired as one of the all-time greats in MMA, impressed in his return to pro boxing last year. He had two bouts in 2021, beating former WBC champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and swiftly knocking out fellow MMA star Tito Ortiz.
Silva represents a huge step up in competition for Paul, both in size and skill, but he will also be over two decades older. Silva is 47, Paul is 25.