The event will take place in Dubai\u2019s Coca Cola Arena on December 24. <\/p>\n
In Australia, the fight will air live early on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
Despite fears that Paul\u2019s career was over after Anthony Joshua broke his jaw a year ago, the American crossover star is now back training and pitching himself up for a host of big fights \u2013 including Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, Deontay Wilder and Conor McGregor in MMA.<\/p>\n
But first, and in what will be his anticipated return from injury, \u2018The Problem Child\u2019 will throw down against a dangerous Mixed Martial Artist who also doubles as a two-time Glory kickboxing world champion.<\/p>\n
When it comes to boxing, Doumbe has only competed professionally once — beating countryman Mohamed Fodil way back in 2015 \u2013 but is still one of Europe\u2019s most recognised fight stars.<\/p>\n
Since switching to MMA, the former kickboxer has recorded six knockout wins in seven fights, and most famously won his 2023 PFL debut in only nine seconds<\/p>\n
Yet despite his strong combat resume, Paul has wasted no time in taking the big stick to his new rival.<\/p>\n
![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/7fc5d6cfe8817bec87f4645ebc4702d5.jpeg\")
US boxer, actor and YouTuber Jake Paul makes his comeback fight. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u00e9dric Douchebag was calling me out two years ago after knocking some dude out in 9 seconds,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell Douchebag, now you get your chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m rusty, my jaw is janky and I don\u2019t have kickboxing world titles like you do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut guess what? This isn\u2019t kickboxing mon ami. This is boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust like Usyk feasted on Rico Verhoeven, I am going to eat you for dinner in Dubai. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou like to talk a lot, so let\u2019s see what you have to say in person at the press conferences next week in Paris and Dubai.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the proud people of France, excuse-moi for what I am about to do, but your son has been naughty and he\u2019s going to get punished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given Paul has previously been linked to an Alvarez fight, the fighter took to social media immediately after the Mexican world champion defended gold against Christian Mbilli last weekend.<\/p>\n
Alvarez reclaimed WBC super middleweight gold via unanimous decision, and in what was also his first fight since that 2025 against Terence Crawford.<\/p>\n
Taking to \u2018X\u2019 after the fight, Paul wrote: \u201cOut of the ring for 13 months but still the same old Canelo. Respect. Did take a lot of punches though. We will dance my friend, we will dance\u201d.<\/p>\n
When it comes to his own return meanwhile, Paul will face Doumbe in an eight-round cruiserweight bout.<\/p>\n
“That is a f***ing dog! That is a rat!” | 09:33<\/p>\n
\u201cJake Paul calls himself the Problem Child, but he\u2019s never faced a problem like me,\u201d Doumbe said after the fight was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has no idea what a Frenchman is capable of, and I\u2019m going to eat \u2018El Poulet\u2019 for dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake loves to talk, and so do I, but after what Joshua did to his jaw, I\u2019m not sure how much talking he has left.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to finish the job Joshua started.\u201d<\/p>\n
MVP chief executive Nakisa Bidarian added: \u201cJake Paul returns to the ring after a year of uncertainty about his jaw and boxing career.<\/p>\n
\u201c[And] in typical El Gallo fashion, he\u2019s charging all the way back in and facing a multi-time world kickboxing champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cC\u00e9dric Doumb\u00e9 has been calling to fight Jake Paul for several years and the timing of this matchup makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth men understand how to command an audience, and both have built careers by delivering when the spotlight is brightest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Paul\u2019s hyped Christmas comeback rival has been confirmed. Only a day after firing social media shots at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-949885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949885","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=949885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}