GLENDALE, Arizona – Jake Paul hopes even his most consistent critics will begrudgingly give him some credit for his victory over Anderson Silva on Saturday night.

Silva is 47, but the Brazilian southpaw soundly defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in an eight-rounder 16 months before he opposed Paul. In just the sixth fight of his professional career, Paul dropped and out-pointed Silva unanimously in their eight-round cruiserweight contest at Desert Diamond Arena.

The 25-year-old Paul (6-0, 4 KOs) suggested afterward that defeating Silva (3-2, 2 KOs) “has to” make MMA fans and boxing enthusiasts take notice of his development during his relatively short time in this sport.

“I wanna watch the fight back, but you know, people were saying it was a really good fight, a brawl, a war, awesome back-and-forth,” Paul said during his post-fight press conference. “And so, I think people will respect my game. I showed different parts of my arsenal. You know, defense, all of that, fighting on the inside with a legend who’s really good at fighting on the inside. I think this fight really has to gain me some respect. You know, and I’m only 2½ years in. So, this is just the start. I’m just getting warmed up with what I can accomplish.

“And this is the first fight in my career where like I felt comfortable in the ring, right? And just think about it – no one five fights in is fighting eight-round fights. No one. You know, they build ‘em up – four rounds, six rounds. I mean, Tommy Fury’s still fighting six-round fights, right? And he grew up his whole entire life doing this sport, right? His brother’s the heavyweight champion of the world. My brother and I are f***in’ from YouTube. So, I’m doing something that no one’s ever done before, and I’m just learning my bearings in the ring. But we’ll see what happens after this.”

What is likely to happen after this is a pay-per-view showdown with another UFC legend, Nate Diaz. The 37-year-old Diaz attended the Paul-Silva show, but he was escorted from the arena by police after an altercation with members of Paul’s team backstage.

Paul called out Diaz after producing what the Westlake, Ohio native considers the most impressive of his six victories. Judges Dennis O’Connell (78-73) and Chris Wilson (78-73) scored six rounds apiece for Paul, who won five rounds according to judge Paul Calderon (77-74).

“When you get eight hard rounds with a legend like Anderson Silva,” Paul said, “it’s just really good experience under the belt, right? And he just beat a former world champion, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He beat him eight rounds to zero, so he schooled the former world champion. So, this definitely moves me in that direction and this guy is insanely tough, insanely tough. So, it’s just great experience under my belt and, like I said, it’s only been 2 ½ years, so who knows what I can accomplish? I know, but I’ll show you guys.”

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