Oleksandr Usyk responds to Jake Paul fight offer after pair's face-off in the ring

Oleksandr Usyk has declared himself ready to face Jake Paul in the octagon following their spontaneous face-off in the ring on Saturday evening. The Ukrainian had scarcely recovered from defeating Daniel Dubois for a second time, this time in front of more than 90,000 spectators at Wembley, to claim the undisputed heavyweight crown once again before Paul entered the squared circle to challenge him.

The exchange was filmed and posted by Paul, who watched the KO of Dubois from ringside, on X (formerly Twitter) accompanied by the message: "Congrats to one of the greatest heavyweights of all time @usykaa on a huge win. I respect you a lot. Now we do an MMA match for the world @MostVpromotions."

When questioned about a possible bout afterwards, Usyk showed no reluctance in addressing the clash with the content creator-turned-pugilist. "Jake Paul came to the ring for a face-off. I'm ready to fight with Jake Paul in MMA rules. I'm ready but I need to rest," he announced.

Paul, who penned a contract with the PFL two years back, is yet to make his MMA debut. In a bold move last May, the American stirred up the boxing world by issuing an MMA challenge to Usyk.

"Yeah, I want to be like Holly (Holm) here and test my skills in the cage," The Problem Child said, referencing the famous boxer who transitioned to MMA. "That's something I'm super, super interested in, and I think it would be a very, very big spectacle. Nate Diaz is still ducking, but we would need to find the right opponent. [Oleksandr] Usyk, maybe."

Nakisa Bidarian, Paul's business partner, added fuel to the fire regarding a potential mega-fight. "Usyk has called out Jake multiple times in MMA," he revealed.

"They've been in touch with us behind the scenes saying they want to do that fight in 2026. So it's something that we definitely want to pursue."