Jake Paul’s next opponent might show up under the tree. Nakisa Bidarian, Paul’s business partner, told Jack Figg of The Sun Sport that the team has been in talks with former UFC welterweight title challenger Darren Till about a boxing return, with a December date in play and Christmas Eve at the top of Bidarian’s wish list.
“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.”
Nothing is signed. Bidarian said the date, time and location all hinge on how fast he can lock in an opponent and sort out distribution for that specific matchup. If the deal takes another three to five weeks, he said, the fight probably lands early next year. “If we figure it out in the next 24 hours, we’ll hopefully get a fight in this year,” he added.
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Bidarian also made his pitch for the holiday slot, arguing that people are home with family and food and mostly watching reruns or lesser sports. He pointed to Amazon running its first Christmas Eve NFL game this year as proof the audience is there. “Christmas Day is busy, in the U.S. anyway,” he said, citing the NBA and NFL stacking games. “So I think Christmas Eve is better than Christmas Day, at the moment.”
The Fury door closed
The Till talk follows Paul walking away from a Tommy Fury rematch. Bloody Elbow reported that Paul turned the idea down, saying the ship had sailed on that one. Instead he posted a 15-man hit list of fighters he wants before he retires, with names like Francis Ngannou, Tom Aspinall, Sean Strickland and Till.
Paul hasn’t boxed since last December, when Anthony Joshua ended their heavyweight fight with a right hand in the sixth round and broke Paul’s jaw in multiple places. That was the second loss of his pro boxing career.
Till, meanwhile, has been calling for this fight for years, basically since he left the UFC to chase boxing. He’s undefeated in the ring, including a knockout of Luke Rockhold, and he moved over to BKFC this year and won twice there. Bloody Elbow counts it as a five-fight win streak across different promotions and rulesets. Earlier this month Till said he was just waiting on Paul to send the contract. One wrinkle: he still has one fight left on his BKFC deal, though Bloody Elbow reported the promotion is likely to let him fight elsewhere without a breach.
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As for Strickland, the middleweight champ floated a Paul fight earlier this month while feuding with the UFC over his contract. He’s since reportedly signed a new six-fight deal worth more than $1 million per fight, and MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn reported a title defense against Nassourdine Imavov is being targeted for February in Florida. So scratch him off the holiday list.
My take: Till is the right call, and it’s the most interesting fight Paul’s camp has floated in a while. The guy has asked for it for years, he’s unbeaten with gloves on, and he flattened Rockhold. Paul coming off a shattered jaw and picking a dude who’s been cracking skulls in bare knuckle is a real gamble, and I’d take that over a Fury rerun every day of the week. Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and Paul vs. Till could be one too, but only if Bidarian closes fast. Christmas Eve is 56 days away, and by his own math, every week of haggling pushes this deeper into 2027.
