Jake Paul books a Christmas Eve boxing return in Dubai, opponent TBA
MVP says Paul's first fight since the Joshua loss and broken jaw is Thursday, Dec 24; Tommy Fury is reportedly out and KSI says he is retired.
The tea in 3
- Jake Paul will fight on Thursday, Dec 24 in Dubai, MVP announced Oct 29. It is his first fight since the Anthony Joshua loss.
- No opponent is named. Paul says there are "plenty of names" on his list, and MVP says it is finalizing one.
- Tommy Fury is not in the running, per The Athletic via Dexerto, and KSI says he is retired. Darren Till remains a name to watch.
Jake Paul is boxing again on Thursday, Dec 24, Christmas Eve, in Dubai. His promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), announced the date on Oct 29. There is still no opponent.
It will be Paul’s first fight since he lost to Anthony Joshua last December and broke his jaw, and his first pro fight in Dubai, according to the press release as published by Yahoo Sports.
What MVP said
The announcement came with a lot of Christmas puns. Paul, via the press release:
We’ve got plenty of names on the list; let’s see who signs the contract. Merry Christmas, Dubai. Santa Paul is coming to town, and somebody’s getting knocked out.— Jake Paul, MVP press release, Oct 29
He also said he is hungrier than ever
and called Dubai a city that thinks big, breaks boundaries, and doesn’t believe in limits.
MVP co-founder and CEO Nakisa Bidarian said the company is finalizing an opponent worthy of Jake’s return
and will share more in the coming weeks.
He pitched the date as a night when families everywhere are together and watching.
So who is he fighting?
Nobody has been named, but a few names keep coming up. Here is where each one stands, per Dexerto.
- Tommy Fury: the man who handed Paul his first loss is not in the running, according to The Athletic. The two have traded jabs ever since, and a rematch has never happened.
- Darren Till: the former UFC fighter has moved into boxing and was supposed to be on the undercard of Paul vs. Mike Tyson. He and Paul have also gone back and forth online and in interviews.
- KSI: the feud goes back years to their YouTube days, but KSI has said he is retired for good.
Paul’s own wording, “plenty of names on the list,” suggests MVP has not locked anyone in.
Why Dubai, and why Christmas Eve
MVP’s pitch is a global event on a night when a lot of people are home and watching. The announcement tags @VisitDubai and @DubaiSC, and Paul said in the release that he is returning there to start the next chapter
of his journey.
The audience numbers in the release are part of the sell too. MVP says his November 2024 fight with Tyson drew 125 million Live+1 viewers globally, and the December 2025 Joshua event drew 33 million.
Where it stands
Earlier in October, Paul was medically cleared to box again and posted a list of possible opponents, with a return targeted for early 2027, as ESPN reported at the time. Christmas Eve moves that up by a few months.
An opponent and more event details are due in the coming weeks, according to MVP. Until a name and a contract show up, every guess is just that.
Poll
Who should Jake Paul fight on Christmas Eve?
Your reaction?
Receipts
Where this story comes from. We link primary posts and the outlets that reported them.
Jake Paul Something wrong or missing? Send a correction · How we report
