Jake Paul on his biggest pivot in sports and business, taking punches, why he feels he can play in the NFL, the true value of Nakisa Bidarian brings to MVP Sports and the blockbuster move to partner with PFL and John Martin to expand into MMA.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Ryan Clark** (0:26)
Two men set out to disrupt the fight game. Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian built Most Valuable Promotions with one goal, changed the business of boxing, and now they've made their biggest move yet, joining forces with PFL CEO John Martin in a move that could reshape combat sports. But before boardrooms and billion-dollar deals, Bidarian's story began with sacrifice. His family fled a comfortable life in Iran to protect his older brother from war.
After losing that brother, he made one promise to himself, he'd give his mother the life she once had. Jake Paul, I guess now we know he's far from a YouTuber, despite what Chan told him five years ago. He's a boxer, an entertainer, a promoter, and depending on when and who you ask, the biggest agitator in sports. I mean, wait till you hear dudes football takes.
John Martin understands the business of fighting, but more than anything else, he understands entertainment and actual business. Now, a former UFC employee in Bidarian and a man who once tried to buy the UFC in John Martin are taking aim at the industry's biggest empire. I mean, we talk Disney firings, thanks a lot Fred, broken jaws, slot receivers, billion dollar business moves, and the future of combat sports. I mean, we get into it all. I mean, like, literally, we get into it. So now Jake Paul, Nakisa Bidarian, and John Martin join the pivot with me, Chan, and Freddie T. Big moves are being made. I mean, you could say this is their biggest pivot.
Well, fellas, again, we shooting in New York. It's a good reason this time.
Sitting with the co-founders of Most Valuable Promotions, Nakisa Bidarian, Jake Paul. Man, what you guys have created is absolutely phenomenal. This is Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor, I'm Ryan Clark.
Just a little background, Nakisa, on you, though. This isn't where your life always was, right? You, your mother, and your siblings, you guys have to move during the war. You lose a brother. Talk a little bit about how some of those things inspired you to work this way.

**Nakisa Bidarian** (3:00)
Yeah, we were in a very privileged situation when we lived in Iran, who's currently obviously in war with the US. And we fled the country because of the impeding war between Iran and Iraq, where in the 80s, they were sending boys as young as 12, 13, 14 years old into battle to walk over mines, to clear the way for the soldiers. So we decided to move to America for my brother's sake, and we had a great, you know, great but tough life. Unfortunately, he lost his life in America, and that was really a wake-up call for me. And it's pretty serendipitous for me to be here today in Quad Studios where Tupac Shakur was shot in 1994 because the last time I saw my brother, he gave me my first Tupac CD. So thrilled to be here, turned that into, you know, focus and hard work to try to return my mom to the life that she used to have.
And spent many years as a consultant on Wall Street, as an investor, and then in 2011 moved to Las Vegas at the UFC.

**Channing Crowder** (4:01)
And on the other side of that, everybody knows Jake Paul, but who is Jake Paul? Last time we saw each other, Jake, I think it was fresh off the pandemic.

**Nakisa Bidarian** (4:09)
Yeah.

**Channing Crowder** (4:10)
And this guy next to you called you a YouTuber.

**Jake Paul** (4:12)
Yeah.

**Channing Crowder** (4:13)
But you're so much more than that.
We've seen, but who is Jake Paul? If you can tell us that.

**Jake Paul** (4:19)
Yeah, I'm a kid from Cleveland, born and raised and just like come from a normal, like blue collar family and really just love sports, love hanging out with my friends and family. I like food a lot, Thanksgiving.
I feel like I'm a lot like my grandpa. Shout out to Grandpa Spike, but I just like cars and things like that, driving fast and what some of my fondest memories growing up were just being at my dad's cabin, just being outdoors in nature, chasing cows around, riding ATVs.