Jake Paul claimed Anderson Silva was at risk of having points deducted for the illegal move of pulling his head down during their fight.
The YouTube star came face-to-face with UFC legend Silva in a boxing clash at the Desert Diamond Arena looking for his sixth professional victory. He produced another solid display to pick up the win via unanimous decision having knocked down his opponent en route to the points victory.
During the fight it was not all plain sailing for Paul as his 47-year-old rival Silva tried to use all of his experience to manoeuvre his way ahead on the scorecards. At the start of the fourth round, the 25-year-old became visibly frustrated with his opponent, and shouted: "You're pulling my head down."
This was confirmed by the commentary team who were covering the fight, with Paul gesturing to his rival regarding the rule break as the pair came together to begin the stanza. If Silva had of been found guilty of repeatedly pulling Paul's head down, the referee may have opted to deduct a point based on any frequent use of the tactic.
However the fight continued with Paul frequently looking to gain the upper hand, and he found his breakthrough in the final round sending his opponent to the canvas with the big last three minutes helping add to his advantage on the judges scorecards. Despite being frustrated and hitting out at his rival's tactics during the fight, Paul paid tribute to the Brazilian following the final bell.
"It is surreal I don't think it will hit me until a couple of weeks from now," Paul said at the post-fight press conference. "I feel like I am in a movie. He was the one that told me I could accomplish anything if I set my mind to it and it feels like a movie. Just being in the ring with him seeing his heart, courage and bravery. That is the champion I looked up too and I had to go in there and match his heart that I saw through the TV screen.
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"We were throwing big shots all night. That one [knockdown] caught him off guard when he was coming up. He was taking harder shots than that it wasn't the hardest punch of the night. It was obviously just the timing and I was just surprised by his toughness as I was dropping sparring partners with them shots in camp. He is built different, the guy has fought through broken bones so to beat someone like that you have to dig deep."
Silva admitted the better man won the contest and believes he did not follow the strategy put in place. "Jake is better than me today because I tried to put my strategy into place. I talked to my coach in the room and I just couldn't find my distance. Jake was better than me tonight and that is it."
