Well, breathe a little sigh of relief, Anderson Silva fans.
Despite telling MMA Weekly that he was “knocked out” twice in sparring for his upcoming boxing match with Jake Paul, “The Spider” has subsequently clarified that he was only knocked down.
Well then.
Silva issued the correction via TMZ, noting that he misspoke in the English-language interview, and that the incidents in question actually occurred in September, though the MMA Weekly interview was only released this week.
Speaking via an unnamed representative, Silva told the outlet that “After seeing the reports and concern for me, I’d like to clarify two important things. 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 Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent. More importantly, my training camp has been great. 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.”
The Arizona Department of Gaming, which will oversee the Paul vs. Silva card, had said they were looking into the matter, according to a follow-up report by MMA Fighting. Silva’s coach had previously denied the fighter’s claim that he was knocked out, with Luiz Carlos Dorea saying that it didn’t happen.
“Thank God we follow all the steps in training and Anderson did excellent sparring [sessions]. He’s 100 percent for the fight.”
Paul vs. Silva takes place this Saturday, October 29, 2022 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
