5 reasons why Anderson Silva will beat Jake Paul

#2. Cardio

Jake Paul's first bout with Tyron Woodley was very telling. Both men fought for 8 rounds before 'The Problem Child' was awarded a split-decision win that 'The Chosen One' contested with no serious backing from the MMA community. Instead, many were frustrated by Woodley's inability or unwillingness to chase a finish against Paul after stunning him with a seismic overhand right, least of all due to his opponent's depleted gas tank.

While Jake Paul is a powerful puncher, it comes at a cost. His cardio is poor. He was visibly tired against Woodley. Upon tiring, the former YouTuber stopped keeping his guard high and became more flat-footed, rendering him a more hittable and stationary target.

This does not bode well against the likes of Anderson Silva. The Brazilian possesses superior cardio, having fought for five 5-minute rounds several times throughout his career against Demian Maia, Nick Diaz, Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping and Israel Adesanya, to name a few.

Not only is Silva's cardio better by a noticeable margin, but if Paul spends most of the fight missing, overextending and growing frustrated with his foe as the previous entries predict, he will tire even quicker than usual, allowing Anderson Silva to completely take over the fight against an exhausted opponent in an 8-round contest.

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#1. Silva's chin

Jake Paul is unlikely to outpoint a more experienced counterpuncher who has mastered the art of distance management. While Tyron Woodley is also a counterpuncher, there is a significant difference between him and Anderson Silva. Woodley's base is wrestling and his counterpunching is limited to retreating in a straight line to create enough time, space and leverage to land an overhand right on an opponent he hopes will run into it by trying to lunge at him as he backs up.

Beyond that, 'The Chosen One' does nothing else for his counterpunching. Meanwhile, 'The Spider' uses feints, footwork and a deep arsenal of tricks to create openings for his counters. Thus, Paul's greatest chance at defeating Anderson Silva is by knocking him out. However, Paul might find that his punching power does not have the same effect on the Brazilian that it had on past opponents.

First, Silva is much larger than any of Paul's previous opponents, rendering him better equipped to absorb his blows by default. Second, Anderson Silva possesses a granite chin. In 46 MMA bouts with much smaller gloves, 'The Spider' has only ever been knocked out twice. The other two TKO losses on his record were due to leg injuries. Chris Weidman knocked him out in their first clash, while Uriah Hall needed four rounds to finish the Brazilian.

Weidman is among the biggest middleweights in the world, so big that he is not undersized at light heavyweight. Furthermore, he caught Silva when his foe's footing was weakest as 'The Spider' had pulled too far back at the waist and was bending backwards past his knees. Meanwhile, Uriah Hall was one of the most explosive and powerful knockout artists in the middleweight division. Jake Paul, in larger gloves, will find it much harder to knock Anderson Silva out than vice versa.