Turki Al-Sheikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority<\/a>, one of the most powerful figures in the sport. At ringside in London on Saturday night for the fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, Al-Sheikh said Joshua would fight in Saudi Arabia in February next year, followed by a big fight in London in the September (assumed by many to be the one against Fury).<\/p>\nAl-Sheikh has done business with most within boxing over the past four years, but not yet with MVP. Bidarian says there have been discussions, including a meeting with Al-Sheikh in July this year and that \u201cif unique opportunities come out that make sense to diverge from that path where we\u2019re not in control, we\u2019ll take those opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n
During that meeting in July, Al-Sheikh raised the subject of Paul versus Joshua and said it was something he could make happen. In September, the Saudis made an offer for the pair to fight in the Gulf state but when Bidarian and Al-Sheikh discussed it over the phone, the MVP CEO turned the idea down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just didn\u2019t make sense,\u201d he says, \u201cI want the biggest fights in the world to happen in the UK and the U.S. I think it\u2019s great to take premium sports products to different parts of the world, to pollinate its growth,\u201d he says, pointing to the NFL games that take place in Europe each year and the NBA\u2019s decision to play three regular-season matches this season in Mexico, Germany and England respectively, \u201cbut no one\u2019s shifting the majority of their schedule to China or to Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever possible, my belief is the biggest fights should happen in the countries where the athletes are from. That\u2019s great for the building of the sport, for the fans, for the media, and for increasing the fanship to move away from being niche.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was there ever a discussion about holding Paul-Joshua in the UK, then? Bidarian says not, because of his determination that it would be a professional fight and his knowledge that there would be \u201clots of hurdles for the British Boxing Board of Control to agree to that here\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast about rumours of the fight last week, the board\u2019s general secretary Robert Smith said he was \u201ctotally against it\u201d happening and that he would \u201cfind it extremely surprising if the board agreed for that to happen in this country. I can\u2019t see it happening here\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bidarian\u2019s counter to that is Paul\u2019s fight against Joshua is actually more \u201csanctionable\u201d than many of the bouts which do take place in rings up and down the UK.<\/p>\n
He points to Joshua\u2019s 10th fight as a professional, against former British champion and European title challenger Michael Sprott, arguing that in matching a 25-year-old who\u2019d then knocked out all nine of his pro opponents against a 39-year-old with 22 defeats on his record (12 of them stoppages), the older man was \u201cthere to lose\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat to me should be less sanctionable than Jake Paul, who is 12-1 (in his 13 fights), younger, has been in there with (Julio Cesar) Chavez Jr, who\u2019s never been knocked out, unlike AJ, versus some of the other stuff that gets sanctioned every single weekend. There\u2019s an athlete in the UK (Jake Pollard), who\u2019s been on multiple (fight) cards, who has over a hundred losses. How is that possible? How is that sanctioned?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if anyone has a problem with Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua being sanctioned, they have a much bigger problem with boxing as a whole. It\u2019s just that Jake has a big name, a lot of awareness and notoriety, so people want to focus on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are literally there to lose. Jake\u2019s not there to lose, Jake\u2019s there to rewrite history and do what many people think is the unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2153320200-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Bidarian with Tyson and Paul ahead of their fight last year (Cooper Neill\/Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n
When UFC CEO and president Dana White was asked about Paul taking on Joshua last weekend, he responded: \u201cThat\u2019s a f**king bad idea. You know what everyone\u2019s tuning into that for. I think everyone\u2019s finally going to get what they\u2019ve been waiting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bidarian and White have history.<\/p>\n
The MVP co-founder\u2019s career in fight sports started at the UFC, which he joined after meeting the Fertitta brothers \u2014 Frank and Lorenzo, then owners of the MMA league. Bidarian knew nothing about the sport \u2014 his background was in investment banking \u2014 but a chance meeting with the Fertittas when Abu Dhabi (where Bidarian was working for investment firm Mubadala) acquired 10 per cent of the UFC in 2010 led ultimately to him being hired by the latter in 2012.<\/p>\n
He rose from chief strategy officer to chief financial officer, overseeing major fighter agreements, including Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor, before playing a central role in the UFC\u2019s $4billion sale to the Endeavor consortium in 2016. Bidarian left the organization shortly afterwards, and says he and White had an \u201cup and down\u201d relationship. \u201cIt\u2019s become very clear over the past few years that he\u2019d never really liked me,\u201d he says, referencing \u201cderogatory comments\u201d White has made since.<\/p>\n
Bidarian first met Paul in 2019, introduced to him by a friend in the music industry. \u201cHe was definitely a different type of young man,\u201d laughs Bidarian. Paul said he wanted to start a fighters\u2019 union and give young up-and-comers opportunities while also rapping, acting and making crazy content. \u201cI was like, \u2018Great. Nice meeting you\u2019,\u201d smiles Bidarian, waving a hand in mock dismissal.<\/p>\n
Paul had an offer from Hearn at the time for what would be his first professional fight; it was $500,000 and Bidarian agreed to help him get more money, turning it into a $4million payday against English YouTuber AnEsonGib in January 2020. A few months later, Bidarian was called in as executive producer on Tyson\u2019s comeback fight against fellow legend Roy Jones Jr and told the broadcaster, Triller, that it needed Paul on the card to help attract the young demographic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Jake, offered him $500,000. He\u2019s like, \u2018What?\u2019. I said, \u2018Take this, be the star of the night, and I promise you I\u2019ll deliver you eight figures for your next fight\u2019. He was the star of the night; he knocked out an NBAer (Nate Robinson). People laugh at it now, but at the time Jake was the underdog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bidarian secured Paul $11.5million for his next bout, against former wrestler and MMA fighter Ben Askren. He won with a first-round stoppage and realised, says Bidarian, what boxing could do for him. \u201cOf course financially, but that wasn\u2019t the driver. It was the discipline, it was the focus. It was giving him a purpose in life. So he left LA, moved to Puerto Rico, and then we started MVP.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their long-term plan, he says, is to become the reference point for Gen Z and Gen Alpha for the sport.<\/p>\n
He knows Paul has his \u201cnaysayers\u201d. \u201cNever in Jake Paul\u2019s career has there been any stipulation in any fight that hasn\u2019t been publicly disclosed,\u201d he says, referring to the shorter rounds and bigger gloves against Tyson. \u201cBut that was agreed to with the commission. That\u2019s it. Every other fight in Jake\u2019s career, there\u2019s never been any secret stipulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my favourite things I\u2019m reading today is: \u2018AJ is being paid to lose\u2019. AJ, who\u2019s worth \u00a3250million or whatever it may be, who\u2019s fought in Saudi Arabia four or five times, who\u2019s done million-plus pay-per-views, is being paid to lose? I mean, it\u2019s pretty ridiculous. The notion of anything not being but on the up-and-up is ridiculous, because we\u2019d go to jail for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1468901486-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Bidarian with Paul ahead of his fight against Tommy Fury in 2023 (Francois Nel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
MVP is already one of the most well-known brands in boxing, according to Bidarian; something it has achieved within four years of entering the sport. And Paul is the \u201cbiggest star in it\u201d, he states. \u201cIt\u2019s called Jake versus Joshua, not Joshua versus Jake. Jake is the A-side against the UK\u2019s biggest star, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
What would it mean then for the future of Paul and MVP should this fight go the way most boxing fans expect, ending brutally and painfully in Joshua\u2019s favor?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it means anything,\u201d insists Bidarian. \u201cJake lost to Tommy Fury in fight seven and people wrote us off. We came back four months later and did a bigger event in the U.S. with (UFC star) Nate Diaz. Of course, I don\u2019t want that for Jake, as someone who cares about him as a friend (and) as a business partner, but that\u2019s the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with boxing is too often people view a loss as the end. Joshua is a perfect example. He\u2019s four losses in. Now he\u2019s about to have the biggest event of his career. Is it the biggest in terms of pure competition? Maybe people don\u2019t view it that way. But this is his biggest fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua\u2019s legacy is on the line next month, says Bidarian. \u201cIf he loses, his is definitely damaged. But if he knocks out Jake Paul, he will be viewed as the saviour who ended this \u2018charade\u2019. I think that\u2019s part of his view. He\u2019ll be idolised as a hero in the boxing community if he\u2019s able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nakisa Bidarian has had a busy 36 hours. First he finalised a deal for Jake Paul, his business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-294162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2236823582-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2061704571-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n