Jake Paul Medically Cleared After Joshua KO, Drops Hit List of Dream Opponents
Paul is cleared to fight after a broken jaw and two surgeries, and he has Canelo, Ngannou and McGregor on his wish list.
Jake Paul has been medically cleared to return to boxing after recovering from the broken jaw he suffered in his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in December 2025, per Sherdog.
Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian announced the clearance on X on Wednesday, writing, "Jake Paul has been cleared to return to the boxing ring." Paul required surgery following the sixth-round stoppage and underwent a second procedure in February 2026.
With the green light in hand, Paul dropped an extensive hit list of potential opponents spanning boxing and MMA. On the boxing side, he named Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, KSI, Edgar Berlanga, Chris Eubank, and Deontay Wilder. From MMA, the list includes Francis Ngannou, Sean Strickland, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Darren Till, and Tom Aspinall. He also tagged Bidarian with a message to "make it happen" alongside a "World Title" reference.
The timing lines up with the ongoing UFC fighter pay dispute. Strickland, the current UFC middleweight champion, recently posted that he is considering boxing if his pay situation does not improve. Paul responded directly, writing, "Sean Strickland, I see your texts but are you out of contract? Tell your 'promoter' to call MVP."
Paul, who co-founded MVP alongside Bidarian, promotes his own fights and has positioned himself as a vocal critic of UFC fighter compensation.
Love him or hate him, Jake Paul being back in the mix makes combat sports more interesting. The Joshua fight proved he does not belong in the ring with elite heavyweights, but a broken jaw and two surgeries later, the guy is already posting hit lists. You cannot question the ambition.
The Strickland connection is the most realistic play on that list. Strickland is publicly fed up with UFC pay and openly talking about boxing. Paul has the platform and the money to make it happen through MVP. If Strickland actually gets out of his UFC deal, that is a fight that sells itself.
Canelo and Aspinall are fantasy matchmaking. But Ngannou, Diaz, McGregor? Those are all names Paul could realistically get in the ring. The guy is a promoter first and a boxer second, and that list is designed to generate exactly this kind of conversation.
