How Jake Paul plans to use his social clout to take on the UFC

Jake Paul is testing the limits of creator clout pinch a caller pro-fighting push.

Paul is combining his company, Most Valuable Promotions, pinch the Professional Fighters League to return connected the UFC. Analysts opportunity it'll create a formidable challenger, though it will beryllium reliable to lucifer the UFC's size and marque advantages.

"We're not going to overtake UFC successful the adjacent term," MVP cofounder Nakisa Bidarian told Business Insider. Over time, he said, MVP intends to "chip distant and hopefully create a Nike and Adidas dynamic, a Pepsi and Coke dynamic, complete the adjacent 7 to 10 years."

Bidarian says Paul is simply a large portion of the effort, which includes the creator entering the cage himself, arsenic early arsenic November.

"He's not conscionable a creator — he's a combat sports entrepreneur and fighter," Bidarian said. "He's a unicorn plus erstwhile it comes to being a combatant and a promoter astatine the aforesaid time. Jake is the champion engagement-getter successful combat sports by a wide margin."

Celeb-led companies person a 'key-person risk'

Paul has a ample societal following, a beardown entreaty among young audiences, and a narration pinch Netflix that could thief MVP unafraid a bigger media authorities woody erstwhile the PFL's ESPN woody expires later this year, said Patrick Auger, a contributor to Sherdog, an MMA news outlet.

The mixed institution — bringing together MVP's conflict promotion and talent guidance business pinch the PFL's combat sports events cognition — will usage the MVP name. Company leaders scheme to summation the output of video and filmed intermezo contented to thrust attraction and engagement astir PFL's athletes.

"It's a alteration successful mindset to travel from conscionable being a unrecorded events institution pinch elite athletes to being a existent content and intermezo company," said PFL CEO John Martin — besides the erstwhile CEO of Turner — who is the CEO of the caller entity.

The caller MVP needs to pull and create apical fighters who tin pull ongoing audiences.

"Content tin help, but it isn't going to create stars," Auger said. "The UFC has built a moat betwixt itself and immoderate different competitor. For the casual fan, the UFC is MMA."

Companies built astir a large persona — for illustration Paul — tin besides tally a "key-person risk" if the person, say, gets sick aliases suffers reputational damage. Bidarian said Paul is simply a captious portion of the activity squad and that he talks pinch him "multiple times" a day. He besides said that the institution isn't overly reliant connected Paul.

"It's ever a consequence erstwhile you necktie thing to 1 individual, but we person astir 400 fighters connected the caller MVP, and that's a very formidable jock list," Martin added.

MVP wants to beryllium a contented company

Mixed martial arts has gained taste rate acknowledgment to UFC leader Dana White's long-standing narration pinch President Donald Trump and high-profile fans for illustration Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg turning retired astatine fights.

To capitalize, Paul and squad purpose to broaden MVP's scope among casual fans and women. MVP has doubled down connected women athletes, forming a women's boxing league, MVPW, which has a distribution woody pinch ESPN done 2028. The Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano conflict successful May connected Netflix, wherever MVP has streamed big events since 2024, was the streamer's first-ever unrecorded MMA event.

Bidarian pointed to MVP's earlier women's fights connected ESPN this twelvemonth arsenic grounds that women tin tie audiences of some genders, successful move expanding advertiser appeal.

"The female attraction has been great, but equally, the antheral 18-to-34 attraction has been great, too," Bidarian said of the audience.

The statement besides plans to usage short-form storytelling and Paul's societal scope to drawback attraction and capitalize connected unrecorded sports being 1 of the past wide intermezo vehicles. Paul is besides progressive successful training chap athletes successful societal media promotion.

Bidarian said the company's activity had discussed creating an in-house infrastructure to thief MVP athletes turn their brands. MVP has a combat sports-related show it plans to denote successful the coming months, which he didn't name, and is successful discussions to make scripted and unscripted series, he said.

Still, the UFC has a large talent and size advantage complete the PFL. The UFC puts connected astir doubly arsenic galore hours of unrecorded events arsenic the PFL, according to the organizations, and has heavy pockets it tin excavation into to motion talent.

"UFC controls truthful overmuch extent of talent, the largest stars, and produces truthful galore hours of contented that it's been an unthinkable struggle to create a beardown alternative," said John Pollack, editor of Post Wrestling, a media institution covering wrestling and combat sports.