Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker says he'd let Logan Paul fight in his cage after he went 8 rounds with Floyd Mayweather

• Logan Paul's ability to survive eight rounds with Floyd Mayweather impressed MMA boss Scott Coker.
• The YouTube creator said after the exhibition that he'd be interested in trying mixed martial arts.
• Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker said Paul is welcome to come fight for his promotion.

Logan Paul's performance in Sunday's eight-round boxing exhibition with Floyd Mayweather in Florida impressed one of American MMA's most powerful figures.

A YouTube personality who had lost his only pro boxing bout, Paul entered the Hard Rock Stadium as a massive underdog against Mayweather - a former five-weight champion Hall of Fame boxer.

Under the rules of the fight, no winner could be declared if eight rounds went by without a knockout. Mayweather landed 43 punches from 107 attempted, compared to Paul's 28 shots landed from 217.

Mayweather did not have it all his own way, even though there was a clear and obvious difference between his technical qualities and Paul's.

Paul, for example, landed four shots to Mayweather's three in the opening round, and finished with a surprising flurry of constant, but largely ineffective, punches.

Then, in the second round, he landed the same amount of punches as Mayweather (three), before the super welterweight took control of the show.

Paul's performance caught the eye of Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker, who praised Paul's athletic abilities in an interview this week.

"This kid has shown athletic ability to go in there with Floyd," he told MMA Fighting.

"The thing with Floyd, come on, how many people could do that? Go eight rounds with Floyd," Coker later said.

"You can't tell me Floyd at some point in the fight [wasn't] trying to take it to him and he couldn't put him away. So to me, that is a victory for Logan, as far as I'm concerned. As far as combat sports, I think Logan just upped his value.

"Was it a great fight? No, it was a lot of dirty boxing going on in that fight but let's face it, Floyd usually goes and closes the gap and takes care of business and he didn't do it this time."

Logan Paul appears to have an invite to fight in Bellator MMA

Though Logan and his brother Jake are both combat sports novices, they have taken the fighting world by storm because of their uncanny ability to market themselves while trolling actual fighters.

Speaking after the exhibition, a reporter asked Logan if he'd ever transition into MMA.

"Yeah I'd do MMA for sure," said Paul at the post-fight media event. "I am a good grappler. I'm a wrestler at heart."

Reacting to Paul's comments, Coker said he'd "absolutely" welcome Paul into his Bellator MMA cage, and match him appropriately so that he is not out of his depth.

"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. If he wanted to get into MMA, we would do it."

Coker continued: "I definitely would put them in the cage. When I say that, they're not going to go out and fight in a real fight against a guy like Gegard Mousasi," he said, referencing the company's current middleweight champion.

"We'd treat them like any other fighter with the experience that they have and take it from there."