Jake Paul's next opponent has already been confirmed just hours before he steps into the ring with boxing legend Mike Tyson.
On Friday night, all eyes will turn to the highly-anticipated fight between controversial YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul and former heavyweight boxing champion Tyson at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
During his time in boxing, Paul has faced off against some huge names in the world of combat sports, including Nate Diaz, Tommy Fury and former UFC champions Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley.
But before the bell even rings, the American influencer's next fight has already been lined up for next year.
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In January 2023, Paul signed a deal to fight under Mixed Martial Arts rules for the PFL, the organisation which houses former UFC heavyweight champions Francis Ngannou.
And nearly two years later, he is reportedly finally going to make his MMA debut and fight on a PFL event next year.
Speaking to Bloody Elbow, PFL CEO Peter Murray claimed Paul will turn his focus to MMA after fighting Tyson, saying: “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 getting bigger and bigger. Jake has committed to take on a for real, legitimate fighter. So, it’ll be a spectacle.”
The YouTuber has claimed that the reason for the delay of his debut in the cage was because of a lack of suitable opponents.
In the meantime, he faced MMA greats in the boxing ring, and even offered Diaz $15million to rematch him in the octagon after Paul won their boxing bout by decision August 2023, but the UFC great rejected the offer because he doesn’t want to fight for the PFL.
Speaking about his search for an opponent last month, Paul said: “It’s just about finding the name.
“We have the money, we’re ready to go, we’re ready to make offers to people but they just have to be able to draw sales.
"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.
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Topics: Boxing, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, Boxing News, Nate Diaz, MMA
Ben McCrum