Jake Paul has made no secret of his desire to compete in mixed martial arts, and now, with the merger of PFL and Bellator under his Most Valuable Promotions umbrella, he says the move finally makes sense.
The YouTube-turned-boxer spoke to ESPN about the landmark deal and what it means for his own career going forward, confirming that an MMA debut is on his radar for 2027.
“Hopefully we’ll get into MMA in 2027 and I’ve been saying I want to do MMA,” Paul said. “It just never has made sense and now it fully makes sense with these two companies combined. So, very exciting next 12 months for me. I’ll be busy in both boxing and MMA matches.”
Despite that ambition, Paul has publicly acknowledged he has never had a single MMA training session. That has done little to temper his confidence, as he continues to position himself as a disruptive force across combat sports.
Before any MMA debut comes more boxing. Paul confirmed that multiple match negotiations are currently underway as he looks to get back into the ring.
“I’m going to be boxing very soon,” he said. “Just getting back into training. We’re having multiple negotiations going on with different opponents and just figuring out what the perfect next step is.”
The PFL-Bellator merger gives Paul a platform he argues no other combat sports company has ever had. He pointed to the crossover appeal between boxing and MMA as a major advantage for fighters on both sides.
“What’s unique about this company is we’ve never seen combat sports where there’s a boxing vertical and an MMA vertical under the same roof,” Paul said. “And so, that’s really unique for our figh ters like me who want to go into MMA, and vice versa for MMA figh ters that want to go into boxing.”
Paul also took direct aim at the UFC’s handling of athlete pay, using Jon Jones as an example of what he sees as an ongoing problem in MMA.
“It’s a cr*me that Jon Jones wasn’t on the White House card competing and it’s all a dispute over money,” he said. “We have always at MVP wanted to put figh ters first. That’s what we’re doing.”
The combined roster now sits at over 400 athletes, and Paul says the goal is to continue building stars the way the company has already done with names like Amanda Serrano and Alicia Baumgardner.
He closed his ESPN appearance with a direct message for UFC president Dana White.
“Dana, we’re coming for you, baby. Come on. I know you’re losing sleep, Dana.”
