Showtime has announced two fights for its Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva pay-per-view card on October 29, with Most Valuable Promotions prospect Ashton Sylve in action as previously announced by Paul, and also MMA veteran Chris Avila taking on Dr. Mike Varshavski.
The 18-year-old Sylve (7-0, 7 KOs) is the first real prospect to sign with Paul’s promotional team, and someone he’s putting some of his legitimately valuable promotional muscle into.
He’s also taking a decent step for his career here, as he’ll take on Braulio Rodriguez (20-4, 17 KO), a veteran Dominican whose losses have been at worst to pretty decent fighters, including a streak of three fights in 2016-18 where he lost to Alberto Mercado, Christopher Diaz and Ryan Garcia. (Amazingly, Garcia is the only one of that trio who has yet to take at least one world title fight, despite being by far the biggest star of the three.)
It has to be said that Rodriguez hasn’t fought since 2019, and that was a 97-second disqualification win in his home country, so he was likely chosen carefully, but on paper it’s probably the toughest fight he’s ever seen. had Sylve. and Rodriguez has a kind of annoying style and is willing to have a hard time.
Avila (1-1 in boxing, 8-9 in MMA) has had bouts in the UFC and Bellator, and is in fact scheduled to fight at Bellator 286 on Oct. 1 against Lance Gibson Jr, or so it remains on his page. Sherdog. .
The 29-year-old is something of a guy in the fighting world, close to the Diaz brothers, Nate and Nick, and will take on Mikhail “Dr. Mike” Varshavski, who was voted the “Sexiest Doctor Alive” by People magazine. He had an influencer showcase earlier this year, and this will be his professional debut.
Varshavski donated his entire fighting salary in May to aid relief efforts in the Ukraine, and will donate his purse from this fight to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem. So that’s a good thing.
In short, listen, this is not a billboard that will make someone change their mind and buy this show. Basically, he’s a filler, but Sylve can be a really interesting prospect, and this whole show is about the main event, Showtime or MVP spending money on the undercard wouldn’t make much sense, and it is what it is.
