Jake Paul is cleared to box again, and he wasted no time telling everyone who he wants. Paul announced the medical clearance this week, and his promotional company, Most Valuable Promotions, followed with a clip of CEO Nakisa Bidarian, who said, “The ‘YouTuber’ never left boxing. He reinvigorated the sport.” Sherdog framed the clearance as the end of his road back from the Anthony Joshua knockout, and by Thursday, October 8, Paul had posted a wish list on X long enough to need scrolling.
He opened it with “Before I rest…” and then went down the line: Canelo Alvarez, Francis Ngannou, Conor McGregor (he specified boxing and MMA), Sean Strickland, Darren Till, Ryan Garcia, KSI, Chris Eubank, Edgar Berlanga, Tom Aspinall (boxing), Deontay Wilder and Nate Diaz (MMA). The last two entries were “Midget who ruined our fight” and “World Title.” Paul didn’t name the person behind the first one. He tagged Bidarian with a short instruction: “Make it happen.”
That’s 14 items. Several of them are UFC names, which is where the list gets interesting, because one of those names is already talking back.
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The Strickland problem
Sean Strickland is the UFC middleweight champion. He took the belt back from Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 in June, and the UFC appears to be lining up Nassourdine Imavov as his next challenger. Strickland, though, spent Wednesday posting about the money the UFC is offering him. In a clip shared by Championship Rounds, he said, “Unless things change with the UFC thing I’m kinda over it. Contemplating just going to 205, knocking out my contract and scrapping with Jake Paul.”
Paul answered on X the next day. He told Strickland he’d seen his texts, asked whether he was actually out of contract, and said Strickland’s promoter should call MVP.
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So the two men are apparently in each other’s phones, and the obstacle is the paperwork. Strickland’s own framing has him fighting out his UFC deal at light heavyweight before any Paul fight happens, which puts that bout behind an unknown number of Octagon appearances. Meanwhile Imavov, who is on a five-fight winning streak and has a 2023 loss to Strickland he’d like to correct, confronted Strickland at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas over the delay. Strickland called the run-in content and walked off.
Paul’s broader boxing world keeps spinning too. Joshua, the man whose name sits next to Paul’s in every headline this week, is set to meet Tyson Fury in December, a fight currently tangled in a promotional war between Eddie Hearn and Dana White.
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My take: most of this list is a mood board. Canelo, Ngannou and McGregor have been Paul talking points for years, and putting them in writing after a knockout costs him nothing. The one name with a real phone line attached is Strickland, a 185-pound champion openly fed up with his pay and openly curious about a payday outside the UFC. If that fight ever gets made, it won’t be because of a list on X. It’ll be because the UFC lets one of its champions walk, and right now Imavov is the one standing in the hallway waiting for an answer.
