Arizona Commission Clears Anderson Silva To Fight Jake Paul

Anderson Silva has been cleared to box Jake Paul on Saturday in the main event of a Showtime boxing pay-per-view.

The commission had a special Thursday night meeting to discuss Silva’s recent interview in which he said he was knocked out twice in sparring. However, the MMA fighter disputed that and said he meant to say knocked down but English is not his primary language and he said that is why the mistake was made.

“After seeing the reports and concern for me, I’d like to clarify two important things,” Silva’s statement read. “One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring.” Second, this sparring session I referenced was in early September. The interview with MMA Weekly was done on September 13th and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent.

“More importantly, my training camp has been great,” Silva added. “I am fit and ready to fight and the only knockout people should be worried about is the one I’m about to deliver to Jake Paul on Saturday night.”

After those comments, Anderson Silva had another MRI administered and passed which allowed the commission to clear him.

“All the requirements that we set forth for Mr. Silva, you know, he happily complied with our requests and gave us proper documentation for everything,” Danny Vella, the executive director for the Arizona commission, said during the meeting. “And I am comfortable with his ability to perform. My recommendation is that he is eligible to compete.”

According to Showtime’s president, Stephen Espinoza said fighter safety is important which is why they did the extra steps for Silva.

“Fighter safety is paramount to us as a network and hopefully to everybody who’s a principal in this sport,” Stephen Espinoza, Showtime’s president of sports and event programming, told BoxingScene.com. “The commission has a job to do and we respect their responsibilities. We certainly didn’t begrudge them their request for additional information. They had heard some things in the interview, which gave them concerns. They asked for additional medical information and exams. Thankfully, those came out clean and everyone has concluded, both the medical experts and the commission, that it’s fine to move forward with the fight. So, we’re happy that the process worked in all senses. They had a concern, we addressed it, medical experts weighed in and the fight is on.”

Who do you think will win, Anderson Silva or Jake Paul?