Less than three months after staging his first MMA event, the YouTuber-turned-boxer announced on Thursday that Professional Fighters League, an MMA organization that acquired Bellator in 2023, has merged with Paul's company, Most Valuable Promotions, and will operate under the MVP umbrella moving forward.

The move presents a seismic shift in the combat sports space, as MVP becomes the biggest player to produce both boxing and MMA events, all with eyes on seizing market share from UFC.

The deal also means Paul could eventually pursue a career as a mixed martial artist, a move he's alluded to for years but never fully committed to. Paul hasn't fought since he was stopped by Anthony Joshua in December, a devastating knockout that resulted in a broken jaw in two places that has since required two separate surgeries.

"I'm gonna be boxing very soon," Paul said on ESPN's SportsCenter. "I'm just getting back into the ring and into training. We're having multiple fight negotiations going on with different opponents, and figuring out what the perfect next step is. And then, hopefully, we'll get into MMA in 2027.

"I've been saying I want to do MMA. It just never has made sense. And now, it fully makes sense with these two companies combined. So it's going to be a very exciting next 12 months for me. I'll be busy in both boxing and MMA fights."

Paul and MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian have been paving an unusual path in combat sports lately, focusing on women's boxing and signing over 50 female fighters.

In May, MVP made its MMA debut with a show on Netflix headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano to the tune of 12.4 million viewers. MMA stars Nate Diaz and Francis Ngannou were also featured on the card. MVP's initial move into MMA appears to have been the first domino to fall for the eventual merger with PFL.

In a parallel announcement to the merger, MVP also revealed a new capital raise by existing PFL shareholders 885 Capital and Knighthead Capital Management shortly before key principals rang the Nasdaq stock market opening bell in New York.

"The most important thing is the infrastructure and the capital that's needed to compete in this large market," Paul said. "There are lots of opportunities here. We have a long road ahead of us, but this is exciting for so many reasons. We've always put fighters first. That's been our ethos, and now we're gonna continue to be able to do that on a higher level with viewership, even more paydays, and more events for our fighters to fight in.

"The next step is more [MMA] events. Now we have over 400 fighters on our roster, so it's about building out our championship fighters, building out superstars within the sport, just like we've done with Amanda Serrano and Alycia Baumgardner [in boxing].

"So more fighters, more promotions, more events for the fans, making the biggest fights in boxing and MMA happen. What's unique about this company is we've never seen combat sports where there's a boxing vertical and an MMA vertical under the same roof. So that's really unique for our fighters, like me, who want to go into MMA and vice versa.

Paul signed off from his speech with a jab at his longtime archrival, UFC president Dana White.

"Dana, we're coming for you, baby – come on," Paul said. "I know you're losing sleep."

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.