GLENDALE, Arizona – Jake Paul wasn’t the least bit concerned even before he knocked Anderson Silva to the canvas early in the eighth and final round that their cruiserweight clash would be all that close on the scorecards.

Paul suspected that there were a couple close rounds, but the popular influencer was certain when the final bell rang Saturday night that he had decisively defeated the skillful, savvy Silva in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event at Desert Diamond Arena. 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).

“I thought it was six rounds to two, which is what I think pretty much the judges had it scored as,” Paul said during his post-fight press conference. “My coaches were telling me in the corner, like, ‘Hey, you got that round. You didn’t get that round.’ So, yeah, I mean it was tough all the way throughout, couple close rounds. Then I knew I just had to keep working and working and working. But after I got the knockdown, yeah, I knew that I had it in the bag.”

The 47-year-old Silva (3-2, 2 KOs) didn’t dispute his unanimous-decision defeat to Paul (6-0, 4 KOs), a much younger but comparatively inexperienced opponent who entered the ring as slightly more than a 2-1 favorite. The retired UFC legend commended the 25-year-old Paul as the rightful winner and lamented strategic mistakes Silva feels cost him a shot at winning their fight.

Silva succeeded while fighting inside, particularly with uppercuts, yet the Brazilian southpaw wasn’t pleased with how he approached Paul from a distance. Their back-and-forth fight nevertheless was tight on all three scorecards through five rounds.

O’Connell and Wilson had Paul ahead 48-47 entering the sixth round, whereas Silva was in front by the same score on Calderon’s card. Calderon, O’Connell and Wilson each scored the last three rounds for Paul, including a 10-8 margin in the eighth round due to the aforementioned knockdown.

CompuBox’s unofficial statistics indicated that their fight was closer than two of the judges had it.

According to CompuBox, Paul landed just four more punches overall than Silva (83-of-336 to 79-of-251). CompuBox credited Silva for connecting on more power punches (66-of-176 to 51-of-121), while Paul out-jabbed him (32-of-215 to 13-of-75).

Paul landed more punches in four rounds. Silva out-landed Paul in three rounds and they connected on 10 punches apiece in the fourth round.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.