Michael Bisping has praised former UFC rival Anderson Silva for his continued success in the world of boxing.

Once upon a time, Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva were at each other’s throats, building up to a titanic duel in February 2016 when the two met in a middleweight main event in London. They put on an incredible show for the capacity crowd with Bisping eventually getting the nod with a win that spurred him on to capture the title at 185 pounds.

Silva, who is still viewed as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all-time, continued to struggle in the last few years of his UFC run before finally leaving the promotion to begin a new venture in boxing.

He’s since gone 2-0 as a professional with wins over Julio César Chávez Jr. and Tito Ortiz, both of which highlighted just how sharp he still is.

Then, last weekend, he dominated Bruno Machado in a performance that should be virtually impossible for a 47-year-old former MMA star to produce.

In a recent episode of his podcast, Bisping watched highlights of the Machado fight and couldn’t help but shower the Brazilian with praise.

“I saw a little bit of this, I saw the highlights. Anderson looks fantastic. Listen, we know he struggled at the end of the UFC, but certainly, he looks invigorated. He looks like a young man, I mean, he took a shot in the middle of that [exchange with Machado] and his chin was always great. He drops him with a beautiful right hook, does the old shoe shine, boom, comes over the top.”

“He looks 21!”

“Anderson is the man, and I’m so happy for him to see what he’s doing out there.”

Is Jake Paul next?

As much as some people may hate it, the prospect of Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva actually happening needs to be taken seriously.

Paul was watching closely over the weekend and poked fun at ‘The Spider’ on social media, whereas Silva is always up for a challenge and would probably serve as the toughest test to date for ‘The Problem Child’.