play1:28Jake Paul claims unanimous-decision victory over MMA legend Anderson SilvaJake Paul wins via unanimous decision over MMA legend and former UFC champ Anderson Silva in Arizona.
play1:38Flashback: Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson via unanimous decisionJake Paul dominates the late rounds of the main event vs. Mike Tyson and earns a victory at AT&T Stadium.
Andreas HaleDec 16, 2025, 08:19 AM ETCloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.Follow on X
Why Jake Paul feels he’s capable of beating Anthony Joshua (1:37)Jake Paul tells Pat McAfee he has to fight a “perfect fight” to be able to beat Anthony Joshua on Dec. 19. (1:37)
Jake Paul claims unanimous-decision victory over MMA legend Anderson SilvaJake Paul wins via unanimous decision over MMA legend and former UFC champ Anderson Silva in Arizona.
Jake Paul wins via unanimous decision over MMA legend and former UFC champ Anderson Silva in Arizona.
Flashback: Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson via unanimous decisionJake Paul dominates the late rounds of the main event vs. Mike Tyson and earns a victory at AT&T Stadium.
Jake Paul dominates the late rounds of the main event vs. Mike Tyson and earns a victory at AT&T Stadium.
Jake Paul’s unlikely turn from YouTube influencer to one of the biggest attractions in boxing continues on Friday when he steps inside the ring with his toughest challenge to date, former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Unlike in Paul’s previous fights, he will not have a size, skill, experience or significant age advantage against the 2012 Olympic gold medalist.
Paul will be a +700 betting underdog, according to DraftKings. Few expect him to last more than a couple of rounds against Joshua, much less beat him. However, Paul has made a habit of silencing his naysayers by winning fights and putting on spectacle events.
After narrowly beating Woodley by split decision four months earlier, Paul was originally slated to face Tommy Fury on this night. However, Fury withdrew from the fight due to medical issues and Paul found himself face-to-face again with Woodley, who accepted the fight on short notice.
Many thought Paul had met his match in the former UFC welterweight champion. Considering that Paul had barely won in the first meeting, they expected Woodley to make the proper adjustments and hand Paul his first loss. Instead, Paul unleashed his biggest knockout, hammering Woodley with an overhand right in Round 6 that sent his rival crashing face-first to the canvas.
“I wasn’t fighting very well before the knockout,” Paul told ESPN. “But I did see the opening, and I wound up my punch as much as possible.”
“That was the biggest accomplishment and best feeling I’ve had after a fight, for sure,” he said. “Being recognized for knockout of the year was such a special moment for me and something I never expected to happen.”
In Paul’s second pro fight, he faced Robinson, a three-time NBA slam dunk champion, in the co-main event of an exhibition match between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. in Los Angeles. The event took place at what was then known as the Staples Center, with no audience due to COVID-19 restrictions, and was broadcast via pay-per-view.
Paul was still widely viewed as just a YouTuber masquerading as a boxer, and a fight with a former professional athlete was widely expected to send him back to being a full-time social media influencer. Instead, Paul turned Robinson into a meme with a violent knockout that left him in an unconscious heap as more than 1.6 million viewers watched while awaiting the main event.
From the start, a disciplined Paul easily picked off Robinson’s advances with a stiff jab, putting him down with a right hand in the opening round. In Round 2, the ineffective Robinson decided to charge at Paul, turning the fight into a brawl.
Paul timed Robinson rushing in and caught him with a right hand, sending him down for a second time. A frustrated Robinson climbed to his feet and threw caution to the wind. But Paul stepped back and uncorked another right hand that caught Robinson flush and sent him down to the canvas for good. Rapper Snoop Dogg, who was on commentary for the broadcast, unleashed an “Oh lord!” into his microphone as Robinson’s body crashed to the mat.
“People thought the athlete was going to kill me,” Paul said. “It turned out to be the eighth biggest pay-per-view of all time, and I had a highlight-reel knockout.”
Jake Paul claims unanimous-decision victory over MMA legend Anderson Silva
When idols become rivals — that was the theme for Paul’s sixth professional fight, in which he faced Silva, a former UFC middleweight champion, 22 years older than him. Paul remembers growing up as a huge fan of Silva during his legendary MMA run.
“[Anderson Silva] was my childhood idol and the only celebrity I met [growing up] in Ohio that I got his autograph and a picture with,” Paul said. “It all came around full circle. That was an amazing night and good vibes all the way around.”
Paul had previously fought two retired MMA fighters, Ben Askren and Woodley, twice, but Silva was different. His skills seemed more transferable to boxing, as Silva is widely recognized as one of the greatest strikers in UFC history. To make things even more interesting, Silva had defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by split decision a year prior, proving he could hold his own in a boxing ring.
The fight was a closely contested eight-round battle. Paul scored a knockdown in the final round to seal the win by scores of 78-73, 78-73 and 77-74. The fight was a lot closer than the scores indicated, though, and Paul said he had to dig deep to pull out the win.
“That was a great back-and-forth fight and the most sore I’ve ever been after a fight,” Paul said. “It was a tough fight, and I was exhausted. Mentally, that was the deepest place I had to go to pull out a win, and I ended up dropping him in the last round. It was a special fight for me.”
Flashback: Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson via unanimous decision
A whopping 60 million households streamed Paul-Tyson on Netflix and the fight brought in over 72,300 fans to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with ticket sales of just over $18.1 million, which clocked in as the ninth-highest combat sports gate in U.S. history.
It was evident from the opening bell that Tyson’s advanced age made him unable to unleash the power that had made him a household name. Paul outboxed Tyson to a clear but uneventful unanimous decision, much to the chagrin of many watching, including Paul. “I wanted to go to war and had these visions of us both knocking each other down and we kept getting back up to fight,” Paul said. “I was a little disappointed because I think that’s what the fans wanted, too.”
Diaz’s cult hero status brought a hostile energy to American Airlines Center in Dallas. Every interaction between the two was contentious during fight week, as Diaz refused to fall for Paul’s trash talk and was ready to throw down at any time, in any place.
Although Diaz had sparred with boxers, most notably undefeated two-weight champion Andre Ward, he was no match for Paul when they met. Paul had promised a knockout but had to settle for a wide unanimous decision and a fifth-round knockdown.
“He punches really soft and I just had to keep on punching him to win,” Paul said. “I wish I could have knocked him out because his fans were still trying to say he won. I had high expectations to knock him out, but it ended up being an easy win.”
Diaz absorbed some powerful punches but proved to be durable, refusing to give in no matter how far behind he was on the scorecards.
“He was just a zombie out there,” Paul said. “What he’s good at is getting hit, which is not fighting. But people love him for that, for some reason.”
In Paul’s most recent fight, he took on Chavez in a cruiserweight fight. Although Chavez was 39 years old and far removed from his prime years as champion in 2011 and 2012, the son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez was still perceived as a threat due to his pedigree as a former WBC middleweight titleholder and his power.
In front of a pro-Chavez crowd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, Paul dominated a lethargic Chavez from the opening bell, demonstrating his continued technical improvements with his footwork and jab.
“I’m proud of the Chavez fight,” Paul said. “I think it was my sharpest fight overall, and being able to essentially starch someone like that who’s a brick and veteran for eight to nine rounds, basically not taking much damage and just picking them apart.”
The atmosphere may not have matched the unrealistic heights set by Paul’s blockbuster fight with Tyson, but the buzz in the arena made it feel like a championship fight. And facing an opponent who had been a champion, Paul put together arguably his most complete performance.
After Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up that postponed their scheduled fight on this night, Paul needed a replacement opponent so his training camp wouldn’t go to waste. He landed on another former UFC fighter, Mike Perry, who had gone on to become Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s “King of Violence” champion.
Perry had left the UFC after going 2-4 from 2019-2021, but he found new life by taking off the gloves. He had amassed a 5-0 record with three knockouts in BKFC heading into the fight with Paul.
Paul carried a significant size advantage — Paul has a 76-inch reach, Perry, 71 — and his stiff jab and big right hand helped him stop Perry in six rounds. The overmatched Perry was dropped with a chopping right hand in the first round, and another right hand sent him to the canvas in Round 2. Perry fought valiantly but was caught with a ferocious combination in Round 6 that ended the fight.