Jake Paul is open to training with UFC legend Royce Gracie for his mixed martial debut, which could come as soon as 2027.
Paul’s combat sports promotion, MVP (Most Valuable Promotions), recently merged with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) to create a superpromotion that will begin hosting big combat sports events in 2027 once the merger is complete.
One of the big draws to the new promotion will be that Paul, the influencer-turned-pro boxer, could be making his MMA debut next year.
Though he doesn’t have much in the way of grappling training yet, that could soon change if Paul trains with Gracie, the legendary Brazilian jiu-jitsu master who is also a UFC Hall of Famer.
Jake Paul May Train With Royce Gracie
Speaking to the New York Post, Paul’s co-promoter at MVP, Nakisa Bidarian, mentioned that Paul has been in talks with Gracie about training his grappling with him for his MMA debut.
“When (Paul) makes that decision (to fight in MMA), he is going to go all in on training. We were talking to Royce Gracie last night about him and his family becoming a part of his jiu-jitsu training. So make no mistake, when Jake Paul decides to do something, he is fully committed, and he will be very professional in how he approaches it,” Bidarian said.
While Paul did wrestle in high school, he hasn’t done much grappling since then, so if he does want to compete in MMA, then training with Gracie would certainly be a smart move.
PFL CEO John Martin also confirmed that if Paul wants to fight in MMA, then he would have no problem promoting a mixed martial arts fight with him in it.
“Yes, if he’s willing to do that. I think that would be fantastic,” Martin said.
Who Could Jake Paul Fight in MMA?
Though Paul has zero mixed martial arts fights, there are rumors linking him to his first MMA fight being against UFC legend Nate Diaz, who fought on the first MVP MMA card.
That does seem like a pretty significant step up in competition for someone’s first MMA bout, even if Diaz is 41 years old and now clearly on the decline after getting beaten up by Mike Perry on the first MVP MMA event. But Paul typically handpicks his opponents, so he and Bidarian must be seeing something in Diaz they think they can exploit.
But before Paul can step into the cage for his MMA debut, he has to get some training in as far as grappling goes, and working with Gracie would truly be a huge move for him to do that. Gracie is one of the most famous BJJ fighters of all time and has had a ton of success in MMA, so if there is anyone to learn the ground game from, it’s him.
With Paul having unlimited resources to use as far as spending money on his training camps go, working with Gracie is something that makes a lot of sense for him.
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