After knocking UFC championTyron Woodley out of cold on Saturday, the combat sports world hasn’t stopped talking about Jake Paul. The Youtuber-turned-boxer still has a perfect record (5-0), but that hasn’t shut down the criticism around him or his boxing career entirely.
All Paul’s victories have come against “crossover athletes”: former NBA player Nate Robinson, former Bellator champion Ben Askren, and Woodley. All of them have suffered knockouts against the 24-year-old.
So, while many people wonder if he can hold up his record, there’s already buzz around his next fight. Who could be the next to take up the challenge of ending Paul’s streak? Fans already have a favorite to fight the former social media star.
Former UFC champion favorite to fight Jake Paul next, NFL free-agent challenges him
According to recent odds released by online bookmaker BetOnline, and published by MMAFighting, UFC middleweight legend Anderson Silva has opened as the favorite to fight Paul next.
It would be the second former UFC champion to fight Paul after Woodley, who was brutally knocked out in the sixth round of the pair’s rematch on Saturday in Tampa, Florida. In their early fight, Paul won with a split decision.
After the fight, Paul took aim at UFC president Dana White and his fighters. “I just knocked out a five-time UFC champion and embarrassed your whole company,” Paul said in the press conference. He asked her to “get him” UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
Someone who’s also open to fighting Paul is current NFL free agent Le’Veon Bell. On Twitter, he wrote to him: “@jakepaul fight me, stop tryna fight ppl who can’t box.” So, Paul has plenty of offers for another boxing match.