Jake Paul has announced that he will fight MMA star Cedric Doumbe on December 24 in Dubai. The fight will be Paul’s first fight since losing to former British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last December. American Paul had to have two titanium plates fitted and some teeth removed after Joshua broke his jaw during the fight. The 29-year-old influencer said in May that his boxing career was “definitely” in doubt after the injury, but he will now return to action on Christmas Eve. The event, which will take place at the Coca-Cola Arena, will be a professionally sanctioned eight-round cruiserweight fight with the fighters wearing 10oz gloves. Cameroon-born Frenchman Doumbe is a world kickboxing champion turned MMA fighter. The 34-year-old is signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL), an MMA promotion that Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) merged with in July. the PFL in 2023, but only has one professional boxing fight to his name, which he won in 2015. Paul has won 12 of his 14 fights as a professional, with his two losses coming against Tommy Fury and Joshua. In July 2025, Paul earned a spot in the WBA cruiserweight rankings after beating former world champion Julio César Chávez Jr, but lost that ranking in January after the loss to Joshua. Paul was knocked down twice against the two-time British world heavyweight champion before being stopped in the sixth round.
