Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman reignite iconic UFC rivalry on Jake Paul vs Gervonta Davis undercard

One of the UFC’s most-iconic rivalries will be reignited on 15 November, but in the boxing ring.

Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, who twice clashed over the UFC middleweight title in 2013, will round out a trilogy when they box one another on 15 November – on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Gervonta Davis.

Weidman famously took the 185lb-division title from Silva, the consensus greatest middleweight in mixed martial arts history, in their first fight, knocking out the Brazilian as Silva tried to showboat.

And in their rematch, Silva suffered a broken leg when his American foe blocked a low kick, in a moment that would change the “Spider”’s career; in his remaining seven UFC bouts, Silva won just once – losing five times and seeing one victory overturned to a No Contest.

In the years since, Silva has continued to fight but only in the boxing ring, and the 50-year-old even boxed Paul in 2022. The YouTube star dropped and outpointed Silva.

Meanwhile, Weidman secured two more successful UFC title defences before losing his belt to Luke Rockhold in 2016. After being stopped by his fellow American, Weidman went 3-7 in his remaining UFC outings. Remarkably, in a 2021 fight with Uriah Hall, Weidman suffered a broken leg in the same manner that Silva did against him.

Now, 41-year-old Weidman will make his boxing debut as he faces Silva for the third time overall, while the Brazilian boxes for the eighth time.

Silva boxed twice early in his MMA career, while he has fought in the sport five times since 2021 – in a mix of exhibition and professional bouts. He in fact outpointed former boxing world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr four years ago (as Paul did in June of this year).

Paul vs Davis will play out as an exhibition bout, though it remains controversial for the weight disparity between Paul, who has fought at cruiserweight and heavyweight before, and Davis, who is an unbeaten world lightweight champion.

Paul, 28, weighed in at 199.4lb for his fight with Chavez Jr in June, while Davis, 30, was 133.8lb in his controversial draw with Lamont Roach Jr in March.