YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul will compete in mixed martial arts following his super fight against boxing legend Mike Tyson.
Paul and Tyson are set to box in November at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Netflix.
Likely in 2025, Paul will get into a cage for the Professional Fighters League in his first pro MMA fight.
PFL CEO Peter Murray insists that Paul is ready to make the jump and will take on a legitimate opponent:
“We have a partnership with Jake and we’re looking forward to supporting him in MMA. We’re going to stage that mega event next year and more to come on that too, that will happen. There’s a number of opponents who continue to line up.”
“Conceptually this event continues to getting bigger and bigger. Jake has committed to take on a for real, legitimate fighter. So it’ll be a spectacle,” Murray said, per Bloody Elbow.
A weight class and opponent are still yet to be determined, however when Paul signed with PFL in January 2023, it was reported that he would fight in a newly-created Super Fight division.
“This is about changing MMA, disrupting, innovating, and creating the next big league,” Paul said, according to MMA Junkie. “I’ve already disrupted boxing, and now it’s time to disrupt MMA.”
‘It would be very, very serious. I would probably start working with either Sean O’Malley’s team.’
During a press scrum in August, Paul told the media that while he doesn’t want an easy fight, he is still managing his expectations.
“It has to be a fight where it’s, like, this is my first MMA fight. So I think I can beat Nate Diaz in my first MMA fight, it would be tough of course. It’s a 50/50 fight but I don’t want to go into something where I’m going to be outclassed like fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov in my first fight.”
Nurmagomedov is widely considered one of the greatest MMA fighters ever, having retired undefeated at 29-0.
Diaz, on the other hand, is more than 10 years older than Paul but still active in MMA with a record of 23-13. Diaz last fought in 2022 when he beat UFC legend Tony Ferguson.
Paul defeated Diaz in boxing in early August in what was a clear defeat but not a dominating performance. Both fighters immediately discussed the possibility of an MMA match following the fight.
“It’s just about finding the name,” Paul told media. With the money available, Paul said his team is “ready to make offers” but his opponent needs to have shown that they can draw sales.
As for his MMA training, Paul said, “It would be very, very serious. I would probably start working with either Sean O’Malley’s team or maybe Javier Mendez over in California. I would take it very, very seriously, I wouldn’t want to lose and I take everything I do seriously, so I would definitely go hard as f***.”
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