Jake Paul has been urged not to pursue a future fight with Tommy Fury, and instead turn his attentions to UFC legend Anderson Silva.
Paul is looking for his next opponent after knocking out Tyron Woodley in their rematch earlier this month, and in the process maintaining the undefeated start to his boxing career.
The fight was hastily arranged after Fury pulled out of his contest with the YouTube star, citing a broken rib and chest infection less than two weeks before the fight was set to go ahead.
The Manchester-born fighter had hoped to be able to rearrange the bout for early 2022, with Paul making offers to Fury as well as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The 24-year-old has also called out UFC superstar Conor McGregor for a potential bout, although former UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has urged him to instead set up a bout with Silva.
“He’s calling out smaller guys than him,” Weidman told the Won’t Back Down podcast.
“Anderson Silva is not [under a UFC] contract, he’s a professional boxer, he’s been looking great.
"He just beat a former world champion boxer [Chavez Jr,] and they’re right around the same size. Why aren’t we hearing him call Anderson Silva out? I would love to see that.
“I would love to see him fight Anderson Silva. He’s calling out all of these fighters with UFC contracts, and none of those are really going to 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 $500m 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.”
Silva was reported to have agreed to face Paul’s brother Logan in an exhibition fight earlier this year, only for the deal to fall through.
But with Paul not ready to commit to rescheduling his fight with Fury, he’s left the door open to a potential bout against the UFC legend.
"I think it would be a huge fight so sure, he's a legend of the sport, great head movement, great striking. For me I would love it, I have nothing but respect for Anderson," Paul previously told The MMA Hour.
"I watched him growing up and was a fan of his. So it would be cool to get in there and see what would happen.
"However, there is the side of it that's like. He's 46 or 47 years old, so I would want him to go through lots of testing to make sure that's he's actually good to get into the ring."
