Jake Paul is still physically recovering from getting his jaw smashed by Anthony Joshua last December, but his fighting days don’t appear to be finished just yet. With MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian talking to Sky Sports, he says Paul intends to make an eventual return to the ring and likes the idea of taking on Francis Ngannou — or perhaps even a rematch with Tommy Fury.
“I think Jake views Ngannou as being very powerful, but very slow and flat-footed and not having good movement,” Bidarian told Sky Sports. “Jake’s keen for that fight. Jake’s keen for the Tommy Fury rematch. Jake’s keen to try to become a cruiserweight champion.”
Bidarian says the current plans are to have Paul back in action by end of the year, and that their team is currently building around at mid-November to late-December time frame for that to happen. Bidarian would clarify that Paul still needs to see how his repaired jaw holds up in sparring, but the expectation is that there won’t be any significant setbacks and if Ngannou isn’t willing to come to the table, there’s still the possibility for Paul to seek out the rematch with Tommy Fury, whom he lost to in early 2023.
In the meanwhile Bidarian says his outfit wouldn’t be opposed to setting up a MMA fight between Ngannou and Rico Verhoeven, and says they are currently in the early stages of those discussions, and we should know in relatively short order whether or not any of these potential plans for MVP gain significant traction.
