Paul Says He Won't Fight Olympic Heavyweights Anymore

Jake Paul's jaw has healed and his ambitions have been adjusted accordingly.

Paul confirmed he is working toward a return to competition after having his jaw broken by Anthony Joshua last December — an injury that has kept him out of the gym and away from sparring since the fight. He said he expects to be cleared to spar soon and is currently in talks with multiple opponents for both boxing and MMA bouts. The Joshua experience, however, appears to have produced a recalibration in terms of opponent selection.

"I just probably won't fight Olympic gold medal heavyweights anymore. I learned my lesson. I'm definitely still fighting. We're in talks right now with multiple opponents and just figuring out when we're going to come back,” Paul

Joshua is a former four-belt unified heavyweight champion. The outcome of their fight — Paul's jaw broken, the fight stopped — was not particularly surprising to most observers, even if the booking itself was. What came next in the conversation was more eyebrow-raising. Paul said he would be willing to fight Brock Lesnar in MMA, citing his own wrestling credentials as justification.

"I wrestled division one in Ohio. It doesn't get more legit than that,” Paul

An MMA bout with Nate Diaz is also still potentially on the table, Paul said. The two have already fought once — Paul won by decision in a boxing match in August 2023, a result that coincided roughly with the peak of the Jake Paul boxing phenomenon before the Ryan Garcia and Joshua fights introduced harder opposition.

A move to MMA would change the dynamic considerably, though Diaz's grappling and submission credentials would make it a genuine risk for Paul in a way the boxing rematch would not. Jake is coming back, but the target selection going forward will be different.