Jake Paul is adding another sport to his combat sports portfolio in MMA after signing with the Professional Fighters League on Thursday, New York Times reported.
Paul has achieved a record of 6-0 inside the Boxing ring since making his debut in January 2020. He has not shied away from big names in combat sports as he has notched wins over Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley twice and most recently Anderson Silva whom he defeated in October 2022. He has achieved four of his six wins via knockout, including against Woodley and Askren who had only been knocked out once each in their combat sports careers.
Paul signed a multi-year deal with the PFL to compete in the promotion’s newly announced ‘Super Fight Division,’ which will anchor the PFL’s pay-per-view events. While no dates have been revealed, the PFL plans on holding two pay-per-views this year and it’s expected Paul will compete in one while boxing once sometime in the year as well and he already has an opponent in mind for both bouts in Nate Diaz.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Welcome to the Professional Fighters League @jakepaul pic.twitter.com/pgMDUprK6S
— PFL (@PFLMMA) January 5, 2023
Jake Paul also is added to an already celebrity-heavy ownership equity in the PFL, and his partner Nakisa Bidarian at Most Valuable Promotions will be helping the PFL with ‘logistics’ for pay-per-view events. Bidarian is the former Chief Financial Officer of the UFC from 2011 to 2016 giving the promotion much-needed direction financially as they look to continue building their roster.
Paul will also become the PFL’s ‘head of fighter advocacy’ meaning he is somewhat coming close to his promise of a fighters union of sorts.
The wildest part of the ‘Super Fight Division’ details is fighters in the division will earn ‘at least 50 percent of the pay-per-view revenue’ from PFL events. While they may have fallen flat in the recent Kayla Harrison pay-per-view, it seems that Jake Paul has the PFL close to being the highest-paying MMA promotion in the world potentially.
All of this gets announced the same week as the UFC silently maneuvers the waters from UFC President Dana White being seen on video slapping his wife on New Year’s Eve. Jake Paul is arguably the most outspoken rival of Dana White as a persona and promoter and now he signs with and owns a part of the MMA promotion that shares a TV deal with the UFC in ESPN.
