Jake Paul claims TikTok boxing first, but BKB did it in June

Jake Paul is taking credit for streaming boxing on TikTok, but Bare Knuckle Boxing got there first.

Paul's Most Valuable Promotions announced that Amanda Serrano's unified featherweight title defense against Lucrecia Manzur on Aug. 21 will air exclusively on TikTok. Paul called it a "constant pursuit of disruption" on Twitter, adding that MVP creates "new lanes that they follow." The problem is BKB already blazed that trail in June, per MMA Mania.

BKB set TikTok viewership record with June prelims

Bare Knuckle Boxing streamed the preliminary card for BKB 55 on June 27 from Cardiff, Wales, in what the promotion described as a first-of-its-kind partnership for combat sports. That broadcast delivered the highest watch time of any live sporting event in TikTok's history and registered five times higher engagement than traditional boxing on the platform, according to MMA Mania's report.

"Our partnership with TikTok has exceeded every expectation," BKB CEO David Tetreault said. "It introduced bare knuckle boxing to a massive new audience and showed what's possible when a combat sports promotion fully embraces digital platforms. Most importantly, we put BKB in front of tens of millions of people who had never seen our product before."

BKB plans to stream the prelims for BKB 56 on Saturday from The Novo in Los Angeles on TikTok as well, with the main card airing on VICE TV and talkSPORT. That show features Victor Ortiz, Jojo Diaz, and Alfredo Angulo. Serrano's MVP fight goes down three weeks later.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — BKB launched TikTok’s record-breaking revolution in June, now Jake Paul wants credit for boxing ‘history’