Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva will get to extend their history together in the ring.
Weidman stopped Silva’s dominant middleweight title run when he scored a massive upset knockout win at UFC 162. He won their immediate rematch at UFC 168 by TKO when Silva broke his leg in Round 2.
Now Weidman and Silva get to compete in a rubber match in boxing. Weidman denied rumors of boxing Silva when asked by MMA Junkie in August but said he was open to it. The pair have now agreed to a six-round boxing match at 205 pounds on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis, which takes place Nov. 14 from Kaseya Center in Miami and streams on Netflix.
“Well, the idea of me fighting Anderson in boxing, probably the first thought of it happened maybe two years ago,” Weidman said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I got a call from his manager, and she asked if I was interested, but I was still in the UFC. It became a thought in the back of my mind, as a possibility after my career in the UFC is over. It was kind of always there. As for this fight goes, I got a call from his manager again asking if I was interested in fighting Anderson, and she said there’s a chance of fighting on this Netflix card with Jake Paul and Gervonta Davis.
“I was like, ‘Let’s do it, it would be fun.’ There’s not too many people that I would really be interested in fighting other than Anderson. We have a good history. I have a lot of respect for him. I think he’s one of the best martial artists of our time, lifelong martial artist, and he’s a true challenge. I think he’s an amazing boxer. He’s under-appreciated as a boxer, so I think it’s an awesome challenge. That’s what I’d love to do is compete against the best guys. So, I love the opportunity.”
Since retiring from MMA, Silva has gone 2-1 in the boxing ring with back-to-back wins over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Tito Ortiz, followed by a unanimous decision loss to Paul in October 2022.
“It’s so interesting because the people asked me about, ‘Oh, are you interested to fight on the next Jake fight, on the same card?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m so interested, but who’s my opponent? I don’t know,'” Silva said. “I talked to Nakisa and Nakisa said, ‘Oh, I try to make the good fight that makes sense for the sport: you and Chris Weidman.’ I said, ‘Wow, that’s great.’ It’s a good challenge for us, especially to show the respect for boxing. Chris and I can do the good fight for the fans, for Netflix, and this is very good for us. It’s amazing.”
