Anderson Silva Cleared to Fight Jake Paul in Boxing Match After Commission Hearing

Saturday's boxing match between Jake Paul and Anderson Silva will go on as scheduled.

ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported Thursday that the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission cleared Silva to fight following a special meeting that was called because of comments made by the 47-year-old.

As Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting noted, Silva previously said his sparring partner "knocked me out two times" during training. However, he clarified that he was "joking" when he made those comments and instead was just attempting to praise his teammates.

"When I talk about the guys doing the hard sparring and [them getting] the knockout, it was just joking," Silva said. "Because I'm training with the young kids and the guys asked me, and I don't put nothing bad in my mind, and the guys say, 'Oh, Anderson take knockout in training.' Of course not. I just like to help and put my partners up, that's the question."

Silva also issued a statement that said "I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring."

If Silva was actually knocked out multiple times in training leading up to the fight, there would be genuine concern about his health and safety.

After all, he is much older than the 25-year-old Paul and would have logically been facing more risk if he was recently coming off a serious head injury. That doesn't seem to be the case, and they will face each other at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

While Paul first became famous as a YouTube personality, he is 5-0 in his career as a boxer with four knockout wins. Two of those victories came against former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

Silva is a former UFC middleweight champion and mixed martial arts legend, but Saturday will present a new challenge.