Jake Paul has a date and a city for his return to boxing. MVP announced on X Thursday that Paul will headline a Christmas Eve card on Thursday, Dec. 24, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The promotion said the event is being put on alongside Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism and the Dubai Sports Council. What it hasn’t announced is the person standing across from him, or where the fight will air.
Paul hasn’t boxed since last December, when Anthony Joshua stopped him and broke his jaw in multiple places. According to MMA Fighting, the injury required multiple surgeries. The loss dropped Paul to 12-2 as a pro and ended a six-fight winning streak that included wins over Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chávez Jr., Nate Diaz and Mike Perry.
Paul sounded unbothered by any of that in the release. “Nothing that’s happened has changed my belief in myself or what I’m working toward,” he said. He also said he has “plenty of names on the list” and added, “let’s see who signs the contract. Merry Christmas, Dubai. Santa Paul is coming to town, and somebody’s getting knocked out.”
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MVP co-founder and CEO Nakisa Bidarian kept it vague on the opponent. “We’re finalizing an opponent worthy of Jake’s return and look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks,” he said.
The Till factor
Two days before the announcement, Bidarian told Jack Figg of The Sun Sport that former UFC fighter Darren Till was one of the names they had been actively negotiating with. “Darren Till is definitely one of the names that Jake put out there on his list,” Bidarian said. “He’s definitely one of the names that we’ve been speaking to.”
Till has been floated as a Paul opponent basically since he left the UFC in 2023 to box. He’s undefeated in the ring since then, including a knockout of Luke Rockhold, and he moved over to BKFC this year, where he’s picked up two wins.
In that same interview, Bidarian made his case for Christmas Eve as a fight night. His argument was that people are home with family and food and not much else to watch. He also said Christmas Day is crowded in the U.S. with back-to-back NBA and NFL games. That was a hypothetical on Oct. 27. Two days later it was the plan, so somebody clearly moved fast.
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Bidarian also said in that interview that the date and location depended on locking down an opponent and a distribution deal. Now that the date and city are public and the opponent isn’t, the order of operations is a little backward. MVP says more details are coming in the coming weeks.
My take: Till is the obvious fit, and I’d be surprised if it’s anyone else. He’s a big, tall southpaw with real power, he has the MMA crossover name that sold the Diaz and Perry fights, and he’d be a serious test for a jaw that’s been rebuilt with hardware. That’s the part I’ll be watching. Coming off a stoppage like the Joshua loss, the question is how Paul reacts the first time he gets cracked clean, more than anything he says in a press release. If MVP signs Till, I’m picking Till on the upset. If they pick someone softer, everyone will know why by about 1:30 of Round 1.
