Anderson Silva defends Paul brothers: These kids opened the door for everybody

• Sports

At the end of next month, the legendary Anderson Silva will enter the boxing ring again, this time against YouTuber Jake Paul, who is currently very successful in the ring with five wins and no losses. Among those five victories are even two former UFC fighters, Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.

The fighting public is very divided about Jake and the whole story surrounding him when it comes to boxing and the sports aspect in general, so most either completely hate him or love him. Paul is often the target of domestic martial arts fans, who often criticize him for the fact that he is 'just a YouTuber' and that this is bad for boxing, but one has to wonder if that is really the case.

‘These kids opened the door for everybody’

Anderson Silva defended the Paul brothers and everything they do for martial arts, and according to him, it was the two of them who "opened the door for many", and said: “It’s very important that people understand that the game has change, and the new generation needs to understand your value,” Silva told MMA Fighting.

“Nobody can say whether you win or lose in this game except you. ... These kids opened the door for everybody. Think about that, and I’m lucky because I helped people think about that, too”. Silva added.

When asked by a journalist if he is risking his legacy in this way, "Spider" replied:

“Definitely not, definitely not,” Silva told MMA Junkie and other reporters on Monday when asked if his legacy is at risk against Paul.

“I came here to do my best. I’m training hard every day, and fighters fight. “You have two fighters inside the ring. Two fighters have 50 percent to win. I have 50 percent and Jake has 50 percent. It doesn’t matter if people say, ‘Oh, it’s not a real fighter or not.’ But when you go inside the ring, you don’t go to stop, you go to kill, you go to die.

That’s that’s the point”.

“The Spider” is unsure how his fight with Paul will play out

“I don’t know, but I promise I’ll go fight very, very hard,” Silva said. “You will see a different Anderson”.

Although it is not entirely clear what he meant by 'opening doors', he probably means the 'money fights' that they bring. Matches against them from the sports side do not make any excessive sense, but if the fighters will earn more money for one match than in their entire career, they are not to be condemned.