Jake Paul admits pay-per-view buys for his victory over ex-MMA star Anderson Silva ‘tanked’

Jake Paul has revealed that pay-per-view ticket sales for his fight with ex-MMA star Anderson Silva flopped after his opponent revealing that he was knocked out while sparring.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer defeated Silva for his sixth straight professional win on points in what was most likely his toughest fight to date on Saturday night in Arizona.

The entertaining fight went the eight-round distance and the final round was a doozy, with a ferocious right hand from Paul sending Brazilian Silva to the canvas.

YouTuber Jake Paul defeated ex-MMA star Anderson Silva for his sixth consecutive boxing win

A ferocious right hand from Paul sent Silva to the canvas in the eighth round of the fight

All three judges awarded Paul the first, fourth, six, seventh and eighth rounds in the fight and scored the bout 78-73, 78-73, 77-74 overall.

Despite his latest victory, Paul was less than impressed with the number of tickets sold to watch his fight, as he insists it was mostly down to the fight being thrown into jeopardy.

Silva admitted days before the fight that he was knocked out while sparring, only to later reveal that he had misspoke and he was just ‘knocked down’.

Paul admitted the pay-per-view ticket sales ‘tanked’ after the news surrounding Silva came out

‘The pre-buys were going crazy,’ Paul said on the Impaulsive Podcast. ‘On Wednesday, when the news came out about Anderson saying he got knocked out [in sparring] or whatever, the fight was in jeopardy and all this press came out, the pre-buys tanked.

‘The general public sees that and thinks it’s not happening. Tommy pulled out, Hasim pulled out. Jake Paul can’t get an event together, this is done. 

‘It killed ticket sales, we were still selling tickets but that day everything went to zero. It was so annoying.’

Silva (pictured, right) revealed he was knocked out while sparring just days before the bout

Not only did the Silva news breaking affect the sales, Paul also believes the timing of the fight didn’t help with so much else going on, including the MLB World Series.

‘I think it will probably go around 200,000 to 300,000 which is kind of upsetting,’ Paul added.

‘Halloween, World Series and Sunday football. This is the worst time of the year to fight but guess what, I had to fight. 

‘All of my fights from now on will be in the summer, there’s no sports. There’s like this perfect gap in July and early August when there is no sports. 

‘All my other fights were during Covid when no one had anything to do and anything to watch. NBA, NFL, nothing was on. I had to fight this year, I just had to get it f****ng done. I was tired of waiting around.’ 

After his victory, Paul called out boxing star Canelo Alvarez and UFC legend Nate Diaz, who was reportedly involved in an altercation with a member of Paul’s team at the fight.