Jake Paul is planning a return to the ring before the end of the year, with his focus primarily on the cruiserweight division—though a heavyweight showdown with Francis Ngannou remains a possibility, according to his business partner.
The 29-year-old American, who first gained fame as a social media personality, has not fought since suffering a broken jaw and being stopped in the sixth round by heavyweight Anthony Joshua in December. That defeat knocked him out of the WBA cruiserweight rankings, but Nakisa Bidarian, Paul’s partner at Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), says the fighter is eager to reclaim his spot at that weight.
“I think his focus is on cruiserweight, outside of a potential boxing match against Francis Ngannou,” Bidarian told BBC Sport. “His goal is to return before year-end.”
Cameroon’s Ngannou is scheduled to face Brazil’s Philipe Lins on the undercard of Ronda Rousey’s MMA comeback against Gina Carano on May 16—an event promoted by MVP. Paul has long targeted the former UFC heavyweight champion, who holds notable boxing defeats to Tyson Fury (2023) and Anthony Joshua (2024).
During a March news conference in Los Angeles promoting the card, Paul taunted Ngannou, saying he ran away “like a duck.” Ngannou fired back: “I really didn’t want to fight you, but now I want to beat you.”
Paul underwent surgery after the Joshua bout, receiving two titanium plates and having several teeth removed. He suffered only the second loss of his professional career that night.
Bidarian confirmed Paul has recently returned to training. “I saw pictures of him back in the gym with his boxing coach yesterday. So take that for what you will. I know he has a desire to be back in 2026,” he said.
The MVP executive also noted that the winner of Nate Diaz’s upcoming fight with Mike Perry on the Rousey-Carano undercard could be an ideal MMA opponent for Paul. Paul outpointed Diaz in a boxing match in 2023, and both have since called for a rematch in mixed martial arts. He also defeated Perry by decision in a boxing bout in 2024.
“I know Jake has talked up Nate a little bit, and Nate’s obviously mentioned it, but there’s no guarantee that Nate’s gonna beat Mike Perry,” Bidarian said. “I think the winner of that fight is a great MMA match-up for Jake Paul, if he wants to do MMA, which he’s always consistently said he does. I think he’ll need a concerted six to eight months of MMA training. He obviously has a wrestling background from high school, but he hasn’t done much jiu-jitsu, so that will need to be learned quickly.”
