Bellator willing to sign Logan Paul for MMA bout

If Logan Paul is serious about crossing over to mixed martial arts down the road, Bellator would welcome him with open arms.

Bellator president Scott Coker said after Paul went the distance with Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition boxing match Sunday that he would "absolutely" offer the YouTuber a fight.

"I think this kid has shown athletic ability to go in there with Floyd, but also, we know he's a high school All-Star wrestler from Ohio, and I think they're just getting better and better at combat sports," Coker told MMA Fighting's Damon Martin. "If he wanted to get into MMA, we would do it."

Paul spent eight rounds in the ring with Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers of all time, and came out relatively unscathed. There was no winner as it was an exhibition. The bout headlined a Showtime pay-per-view card at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Bellator is broadcast on Showtime.

Ahead of the fight with Mayweather, Paul - who's 0-1 as a professional boxer and rose to fame as an internet personality - said he plans to fight in MMA at least once before leaving combat sports.

Coker was impressed Paul did not get finished versus Mayweather.

"That is a victory for Logan, as far as I'm concerned," Coker said. "As far as combat sports, I think Logan just upped his value."

Coker said he met with Paul in 2019 about a potential move to MMA, but at the time, the 26-year-old was solely focused on his boxing career.

Though the Bellator president is willing to book Paul in a fight, he made it clear that the promotion would be cautious about the level of competition "Maverick" faces.

"(He's) not going to go out and fight in a real fight against a guy like (Bellator middleweight champion) Gegard Mousasi or somebody that has that experience," Coker said. "We'd treat (him) like any other fighter with the experience that (he has) and take it from there."