The PFL has interest in Jake Paul according to a report from Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern. The promotion quote-tweeted the Paul video of him kicking a pad twice since it was posted by the You-Tuber turned boxer.
.@PFLMMA CEO @PeteMurrayPFL tells SBJ that he has been having early talks with @JakePaul and his agent, Nakisa Bidarian, about fighting with the MMA property.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) January 8, 2022
🗨: "Fans have seen him in the ring and this'd be an opportunity to see how he'd fare in the cage. We're down with it." pic.twitter.com/l6W7dRDM4i
Paul posted the video on Friday afternoon tagging PFL and Bellator. The Viacom-owned Bellator has not posted anything to its timeline at this point.
Paul has been in a social media battle with the UFC’s Dana White the past couple weeks. Paul, who knocked out former UFC champion Tyron Woodley in December, challenged UFC-contracted fighters Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.
White inferred that the YouTuber who stopped Ben Askren in addition to defeating Woodley twice was using performance enhancing drugs.
Paul has used the talking point that White has chronically underpaid his fighters to get under the UFC head’s skin.
The PFL signed boxer Claressa Shields this past year to an MMA contract. Shields won her debut in June, but lost her second fight in the fall. The signing brought a lot of crossover interest, but did not generate significant ratings increase from the promotion’s typical viewership.
It’s unlikely that Paul would sign with the PFL. Rather, the news is just an effort to get publicity for the organization. While Paul has no experience in MMA, it would hard to believe that he would fight in PFL since his end goal is to partner with the UFC in some capacity to do an event.
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