Oleksandr Usyk and Jake Paul’s teams are considering whether the two could meet in a mixed martial arts contest.

Oleksandr Usyk is the pre-eminent boxer of his generation. An Olympic gold medallist, unbeaten as a professional, who’s gone undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, Usyk is close to the peak of his powers.

Jake Paul is a social media influencer who has launched a boxing career that is enjoying popular success. He lost a decision to Tommy Fury but has beaten former UFC fighters and staged a high-profile eight-round bout with the 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

But a crossover MMA clash between the two is being discussed.

Nakisa Bidarian, the co-founder of the MVP promotional company with Paul, revealed: “We’ve had a couple of conversations, all very positive, and it just depends on how the timing lines up. I think the opportunity is there”.

He told Sky Sports: “Jake is crazy enough to do it for sure, Usyk’s side seem very interested in it. So it’s just about lining up the timing and I think eventually it’s something that will happen.”

Bidarian explained how the unlikely link-up came about. “Daniel Dubois got his US debut on Jake’s first pay-per-view event in 2021 and then we went to support Usyk vs Dubois in Poland when they fought, and so we started to build a relationship with them. I think it was three or four months ago when Usyk came out and said: I’d like to do one more fight and I’d like to fight Jake Paul in MMA,” Bidarian said.

“Jake is crazy enough to do it. It’s funny, he told me the other night: ‘Oh, that’s an easy fight.’ I said he’s got a wrestling background. He’s like: ‘Oh [no], I didn’t know that!'”

Bidarian still believes an MMA bout with Usyk would make sense for Paul, and can happen.

“I think so, absolutely. Jake has two priorities, as do I for his career and MVP as a whole: we want to put on great boxing events and he wants to become world champion, but we also want to do mainstream cross-cultural moments in combat sports. Paul vs Tyson did that in many ways,” he said.

“The same thing for Paul vs Usyk in MMA. That’s going to be a cross-cultural moment that the world will pay attention to. So we’re always interested in those opportunities.”

Watch the Callum Simpson vs Ivan Zucco European title fight live on Sky Sports on June 7.