GLENDALE, Arizona – Jake Paul remains unbeaten, but a UFC legend nearly twice his age truly tested the social media superstar Saturday night.

Anderson Silva, an MMA icon Paul idolized as a kid, pushed Paul throughout their eight-round cruiserweight bout. The 25-year-old Paul dropped him early in the eighth round, though, and rallied late on the scorecards to win a unanimous decision in the main event of Showtime’s five-fight pay-per-view show from Desert Diamond Arena.

Judges Paul Calderon (77-74), Dennis O’Connell (78-73) and Chris Wilson (78-73) scored their grueling fight for Paul (6-0, 4 KOs), who went the distance for the second time in his past three fights. The 47-year-old Silva (3-2, 2 KOs) didn’t dispute the decision during his post-fight interview with Showtime’s Ariel Helwani.

“It’s a surreal moment,” Paul said. “Hard work pays off. First and foremost, I want to say thank you to Anderson. He was my idol growing up. He inspired me to be great. He was the first celebrity I ever met. Without him, we wouldn’t have had a fight this year. He’s a tough mofo. A legend. I have nothing but respect for him.”

Tyron Woodley, another former UFC champion, lost an eight-round split decision to Paul in August 2021 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. Paul viciously knocked out Woodley in the sixth round of their rematch last December 18 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Paul called for a fight with yet another UFC star, Nate Diaz, not a rematch versus Silva, in the immediate aftermath of this victory.

“I think the judges got it right,” Silva said. “Listen, it’s tough to come inside here and fight a young kid. I tried to do my best. I trained hard every day. Jake is better than me today. I don’t have anything bad to say about my opponent. I think everybody needs to respect this kid because he’s doing the best job. I trained hard. I’m a warrior.”

O’Connell and Wilson had Paul ahead 48-47 through five rounds, but Paul trailed by the same score on Calderon’s card entering the sixth round. Calderon, O’Connell and Wilson scored each of the last three rounds for Paul, including a 10-8 eighth round.

CompuBox credited Paul for landing only four more punches overall than Silva (83-of-336 to 79-of-251). Silva landed more power punches (66-of-176 to 51-of-121), according to CompuBox, but Paul connected on more jabs (32-of-215 to 13-of-75).

Silva pressed Paul as soon as the eighth round started in what appeared to be a close fight and quickly paid the price. Paul dropped Silva with a right hand that landed to the center of his face a little less than 30 seconds into that final round.

A stunned Silva took his time getting up, but he beat the count and quickly recovered in part because a wary Paul didn’t try to finish him. A little more than a minute later, Silva pressed the action and landed a hard right hand as Paul backed into the ropes.

Paul drilled Silva with a right hand after landing a left to the body, which temporarily backed him up at exactly the halfway point of the seventh round. Blood flew from Silva’s mouth after taking that shot.

Silva landed a right uppercut on the inside with 25 seconds to go in the sixth round, and then another one about 15 seconds later. Paul attempted to fend off Silva as best he could during that round, but Silva craftily worked inside while Paul tried to counter him.

With under 20 seconds on the clock in the fifth round, Silva landed a left hand out of a clinch while they worked in a neutral corner.

Silva countered Paul with a left hand that backed Paul into the ropes 1:20 into the fifth round. Paul clinched Silva after absorbing that punch.

Paul missed with a lot of hard punches during the fourth round, whereas Silva paced himself. Silva landed two right hands in an exchange just after the midway mark of the fourth round.

A right hook by Silva connected as Paul moved out of his own corner with about 50 seconds to go in the third round.

Paul landed a right hand with 1:20 to go in the third round, but then missed with what would’ve been a damaging left hook. Silva expressed frustration because Paul tied him up again 30 seconds into the third round, after Silva backed him into the ropes and landed a straight left hand.

Silva landed a sweeping right hook with 50 seconds to go in the second round. Earlier in the second round, Silva clipped Paul with a right uppercut that got the crowd’s attention.

Silva started the second round as the aggressor after allowing Paul to press the action throughout the first round. By the middle portion of the first round, though, Silva started dancing around the ring.

A straight left hand by Silva landed and prompted Paul to react by sticking out his tongue and tapping his own face repeatedly with 35 seconds remaining in the first round. Paul partially landed a left hook with just over 50 seconds to go in the first round.

Paul missed wildly with a left hook just after the halfway point of the first round.

That marked the start of a high-intensity, back-and-forth fight, despite the huge age gap between Paul and Silva.

Brazil’s Silva lost seven of his final eight MMA matches, the last of which occurred October 31, 2020. He established himself as a potential opponent for Paul, however, when he defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by split decision and fellow UFC legend Tito Ortiz by first-round knockout in back-to-back boxing matches in 2021.

The long-reigning UFC middleweight champion caused concern during fight week when an interview conducted during September emerged in which Silva stated that he was knocked out twice in sparring. Silva clarified in a statement released Wednesday night that he didn’t get knocked out in sparring and the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission cleared him to fight Thursday night during a special meeting.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.