See more of our coverage in your search results.
Jake Paul’s return will coincide with the day before Santa Claus begins his route around the world.
Paul will return to the squared circle on Christmas Eve, sources tell The Post, with Dubai slated as the destination for his next fight after his jaw was broken by Anthony Joshua nearly a year to the day of Paul’s return. The opponent is still yet to be agreed on.
There has been speculation that has been closely linked to former UFC fighter Darren Till, though that fight is not a done deal yet.
Most Valuable Promotions has also been in contact with Chris Eubank, Edgar Berlanda, and YouTuber KSI, among others, for Paul’s return fight.
No broadcast deal has yet been agreed to for the return bout, though sources tell The Post that it will not be streamed on Netflix.
Two of Paul’s last three fights were on Netflix, with his bout against Mike Tyson garnering 108 million viewers and last year’s Joshua bout getting 33 million.
There is some legitimate speculation that Netflix could be exiting or reducing its live sporting event reach, as the streaming giant fired Bela Bajaria as the Chief Content Officer earlier this month, perhaps signaling a change in strategy.
The most likely scenario is that Paul will fight on DAZN PPV, as he’s done in all three of his last five other bouts that weren’t on Netflix.
Paul is returning from a broken jaw after being knocked down three times and TKO’d by the former Olympic gold medalist Joshua.
Paul’s return is expected to be at cruiserweight (200 pounds), although that doesn’t necessarily mean he will fight someone at the same weight.
He was expected to fight Gervonta Davis (135 pounds) last year before Davis was arrested and the fight was canceled.
Till fought at 190 pounds in September against Yoel Romero in a bout he won by unanimous decision in Bare Knuckle Fight Championship.
Berlanga was arrested on Monday for misdemeanor felony aggravated battery and domestic battery, casting serious doubt that he will be the named opponent for Christmas Eve.
No venue was announced, but a likely option is the Coca-Cola Arena, which hosted a PFL event last February.
Paul told The Post in August that he was expecting to fight in boxing this year and then sign up for his MMA debut with his MVP MMA promotion, which will officially merge with PFL in January, where he had discussed teaming up with Royce Gracie.
