Woodley Replaces Injured Weidman, Will Fight Silva on Paul-Joshua Undercard

• MMA legend Anderson Silva was to fight rival Chris Weidman on the undercard of the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua event.
• Weidman is injured, and has been replaced by another former MMA champion, Tyron Woodley.
• The odds for this match will likely favor Silva, who has more boxing experience.

Anderson Silva gets a new opponent for his spot on the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua undercard. Chris Weidman has bowed out due to injury.

Silva could get the edge in the odds against his new opponent, Tyron Woodley. The Brazilian has more boxing experience.

Both Silva and Woodley Have Lost to Paul in the Past

The news was announced on Friday morning.

Silva was supposed to fight Weidman, who stopped the Brazilian’s middleweight championship reign at almost seven years in July 2013 in a massive upset. Weidman then won the rematch in December 2013 when Silva broke his leg checking a kick.

However, the oft-injured Weidman has to be replaced due to an undisclosed issue. He’ll be replaced by Tyron Woodley, who is also a former champion in the UFC, in the welterweight division.

Silva and Woodley have both faced Paul in the past, which probably earned them a spot on this card. Woodley actually fought Paul twice, losing by split decision in August 2021, but he was knocked out by the then-upstart Paul in the sixth round of their December 2021 bout.

“The Spider” lost by unanimous decision to Paul in October 2022, but Paul would lose his next fight to Tommy Fury in February 2023. It is the lone loss of Paul’s career.

What could the odds look like for Silva and Woodley’s match on December 19?

Will the Odds Favor Silva or Woodley?

While the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua odds are favored heavily towards Joshua, the odds for Silva and Woodley should be closer. Silva will likely be the favorite here for a few reasons.

He is naturally bigger than Woodley, as Silva fought at middleweight (185 pounds) and light heavyweight (205 pounds). Woodley fought at welterweight (170 pounds). Woodley managed to get up to 189.5 pounds in his two fights with Paul, while Silva was 186 pounds in his match with “The Problem Child”. However, Woodley didn’t look good in the rematch, although to be fair to him, he did take the fight on short notice after Fury was injured. Silva will also have a 3.5-inch reach advantage.

Silva is also a striker by nature, and was arguably the best striker in the history of MMA. Woodley comes from a wrestling background, so, striking isn’t his forte. He was also taking on a version of Paul that isn’t nearly as good as he is now (you could say the same about Silva).

Finally, Silva has more boxing experience than Woodley, whose experience is only the two fights against Paul. Silva has boxed five times, although the Tito Ortiz match in September 2021 probably shouldn’t have been made. He also last fought on the undercard of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. exhibition in May 2022, and Silva also boxed another former MMA opponent, Chael Sonnen, in June 2024. While these fights aren’t much, Woodley hasn’t been in the boxing ring since 2021.

For those reasons, Silva should be favored, but we’ll see what the best boxing sites have to say!