Jake Paul to have full control over next fight in MMA merger as ‘unique’ fighter-owner role explained

Jake Paul is expected to make his MMA debut in 2027 under very unique circumstances.

In July, Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) announced a landmark merger with the PFL to accelerate a vision to ‘disrupt a broken model’ following previous criticisms of the UFC and Dana White’s monopoly.

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Upon the news, Paul said he was looking forward to ‘putting my entire promotional muscle into our new company’ while balancing a return to boxing and an MVP MMA debut.

The 29-year-old, who co-founded MVP alongside Nakisa Bidarian, has expressed his desire to fight in MMA for years, having built up a 12-2 professional boxing record in the last six years.

Last time out, the Ohio native suffered a double broken jaw during a brutal knockout loss at the hands of Anthony Joshua.

Paul even signed a promotional deal with the PFL in 2023 in the hope of a debut in the sport, but the partnership ended earlier this year without a fight.

Nevertheless, his first MMA appearance now looks more nailed on than ever.

He has already called out Nate Diaz, who lost to Mike Perry in the first MVP MMA event in May, to run back their 2023 boxing clash but this time in the cage.

“Pull the f*** up, Jake Paul,” Diaz responded on social media last week.

According to partner Bidarian, Paul has also been in talks with UFC legend and Brazilian jiu-jitsu pioneer Royce Gracie to work on his grappling ahead of a potential MMA debut.

But things might prove a little more complicated than usual if Paul is to fight for the new company he finds himself at the top of.

Jake Paul’s fighter-owner role explained

Paul’s new role as part of the merger, which will see PFL branding transform entirely to MVP MMA from January 1, 2027, sees the American serving as a board member while also as a potential big-name fighter.

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So with matchmaking, purse negotiations and all the other fine details that go into booking a fight, how does that actually look on paper?

PFL CEO John Martin, who will continue his role and lead the overall business of the combined MVP merger, spoke to talkSPORT.com to explain how it would work.

“It is a little [complicated] – it’s unique,” Martin said.

“That was part of what was all discussed as part of this merger agreement.

“It’s maybe the only time in my past or my experience to date where I’ve dealt with one single individual who’s an athlete, talent, a service provider, a sponsor provider and, oh, an owner and a major owner, so that’s been very, very unique.

“But in terms of— I’m not going to go into any of the details — how and what will govern his decision, I mean, only he will decide whether he wants to fight or not.

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“But assuming and hoping and expecting that he does, then we’ll have a mechanism to figure out how to do that and of course he’ll always have control over his own decisions.”

Inside PFL’s negotiations with MVP

Martin labelled Paul a ‘unique one-of-a-kind individual’ when asked how the negotiations with MVP began.

The PFL boss said he was on a podcast around mid-March this year and found himself discussing ‘with some admiration’ MVP’s move into the MMA space.

UFC legend Ronda Rousey submitted female fighting trailblazer Gina Carano in the main event of MVP MMA 1.

“When I left the podcast, I had a text from Nakisa Bidarian, who was the co-founder of MVP,” Martin explained.

“And he said, ‘Thank you for being kind and saying nice things about MVP. If, at all, you’re thinking about rebranding PFL,’ which I was, he said, ‘We ought to talk because there’s a bigger idea here.’

“He really beat me to the outreach because I was planning on outreaching him immediately after the May event.

“Because from having now been at the PFL for a little less than a year, I think the PFL has better quality of fighters than your average fight fan even realises.

“And where the PFL has struggled a little bit has been: how do we raise the level of our brand and shine a spotlight on the fighters in a bigger way?

“Part of that is brand awareness, part of it is distribution, part of it is because there have been so many format changes in the past, which is what MVP is really terrific at.

“I mean, with somebody like Jake Paul, who’s a unique one-of-a-kind individual, and if you think about what he and Nakisa have done along with a very positive relationship with the likes of a Netflix.

“They’ve put some of the biggest combat sport events on in the history of the world and the company is less than five years old, or it’s just turned five.

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“So I’m a fairly ambitious executive from the sense of I realised the benefits of scale and being big and I wanted to try to jumpstart and accelerate the PFL’s ability to do that and get there.”

Netflix aired MVP MMA 1 to mark the streaming giant’s first endeavour into the sport.

Martin hopes the relationship with Netflix continues for obvious reasons, but regardless, he said the ‘value proposition’ of the new company to any broadcaster has still climbed tenfold.

There may be a situation where multiple broadcasters are involved going forward, with, for example, MVP’s successful women’s boxing brand partnering with Sky Sports and TikTok as of late.

He has also already said the new MVP brand going forward will be able to offer fighters boxing and MMA fights, with Francis Ngannou apparently central to the promotion’s plans in the future.

That is the perfect situation for someone like Paul, who can continue representing MVP as a fighter and owner.