Jake Paul has said he will retire from boxing if he loses to MMA star Cedric Doumbe on 24 December in Dubai.

The bout will be Paul’s first fight since being stopped by former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last December.

Paul had to have two titanium plates fitted and some teeth removed after the Briton broke his jaw during that contest, but will return to the ring for the first time in a year.

“This is a dangerous fight,” Paul said in a social media video. “Cedric has been in there with killers his whole career. He’s a two-time world champion and he’s not scared of anybody, including me ‘The Vanilla Gorilla’.

“But this is my sport. No kicks, no takedowns, and no glass on the floor, we checked.

“If he wins, I will hang up the gloves and call it a day, but if he loses, the man who calls himself ‘The Best’ just got beat up by a YouTuber with a titanium jaw.

“So Cedric Doumbe, I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock you out, embarrass you and defeat you on Christmas Eve. This fight is not going the distance and someone is getting put to sleep in the Middle East and it’s not Santa.”

Paul, the social media influencer turned professional fighter, said in May his boxing career was “most definitely” in doubt after the injuries he sustained against Joshua.

The 29-year-old American will now return in a professionally sanctioned eight-round cruiserweight bout with the fighters using 10oz gloves.

Paul has won 12 of his 14 fights as a professional, with his two defeats coming against Tommy Fury and Joshua.

In July 2025, Paul earned a place in the WBA’s cruiserweight rankings after beating former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, but he lost that ranking in January after defeat by Joshua.

Paul was knocked down twice against the two-time heavyweight world champion before being stopped in the sixth round.

Cameroonian-born Frenchman Doumbe is a multi-time kickboxing world 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 merged with in July.

He has won two of his three fights since joining the PFL in 2023, but has only one professional boxing bout to his name, which he won in 2015.