It’s been greater than two years since Jake Paul signed a contract with the PFL to not solely function an envoy for the model, but additionally to ultimately transition into MMA to combat for the group as nicely.
Whereas Paul has continued to tease his curiosity in MMA, the now 28-year-old fighter appears extra targeted than ever on his boxing profession after staging one of many most-watched occasions of 2024 together with his showdown towards Mike Tyson that aired on Netflix. Recently, Paul has taken goal at former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and even reignited a feud with Tommy Fury — the one individual at hand him a defeat in his boxing profession — however mentions about him doing MMA have dwindled dramatically.
PFL analyst Dan Hardy, who as soon as touted a possible combat between Paul and Nate Diaz as the proper matchup to welcome the previous social influencer into MMA, now admits that it appears much less and fewer probably that “The Downside Youngster” — or extra lately “El Gallo” — truly makes the transfer.
“Will we ever see him in MMA? I don’t assume so,” Hardy instructed MMA Preventing. “I believe he’s fairly targeted on boxing.
“It’s loads of work for him to cross over to combined martial arts, and he’s not going to combat anyone that you simply’ve by no means heard of earlier than. It’s going to need to be an honest identify or in any other case individuals received’t watch it. Even previous guys in MMA may nonetheless deal with enterprise, I believe, with Jake Paul.”
When he first grew to become knowledgeable boxer, Paul feasted on MMA fighters crossing over into that sport after he eradicated names like Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley earlier than ultimately scoring wins towards Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz and Mike Perry.
To truly pull a reverse and take an MMA combat, Paul would virtually definitely need to put boxing on maintain for a number of months if not longer to totally give attention to all the weapons he would want to compete in a promotion just like the PFL.
Making issues even harder, Paul was nearing a deal to combat multi-division champion Canelo Alvarez earlier than the rug received pulled out from below him when the Mexican-born boxer signed a last-minute deal to begin preventing for Saudi Arabia royal advisor Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season as an alternative.
In different phrases, Paul has his sights set on the most important boxing matches doable proper now.
Whereas nothing is ever set in stone, Paul has seemingly set MMA to the aspect whereas he places his full give attention to his boxing profession transferring ahead.
“I’m not seeing him making any strikes in that path, definitely from my perspective,” Hardy mentioned. “He known as out Anthony Joshua the opposite day did he not? He’s definitely making issues fascinating for the fight sports activities world.
“He’s undoubtedly a disruptor. That’s the primary function that he’s serving proper now. He’s a profit to the PFL in that regard as nicely.”
