UFL Championship MVP Is a Former Viking
The 2025 UFL season is complete, and the DC Defenders are champions.
One former Vikings quarterback took home the UFL Championship MVP last weekend after his team went the distance.
The Defenders stomped the Michigan Panthers on Saturday, winning that league’s Super Bowl by a score of 58-34.
Along the way, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Jordan Ta’amu won the UFL Championship MVP.
Jordan Ta’amu Wins UFL Championship MVP
After the dub, the UFL’s main social media account tweeted, “He owned every moment. Jordan Ta’amu is the 2025 UFL Championship MVP!”
Ta’amu delivered a dazzling 390 passing yards, with 4 touchdown passes on 21 completions over 28 attempts. The ex-Vikings signal-caller also chipped in 28 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown for good measure.
With no debates from anybody, it was The Ta’amu Show on the grandest stage in UFL-speak.
The DC Defenders Get It Done
The Defenders’ win represented their first league championship in the UFL. Fox Sports’ RJ Young wrote, “At the start of the fourth quarter, DC Defenders QB Jordan Ta’amu stood among his teammates as they chanted ‘M-V-P! M-V-P!’ before sealing a 58-34 rout of the Michigan Panthers in the 2025 UFL Championship Game on Saturday.”
“Ta’amu’s evening was made that much sweeter with newly minted UFL MVP, Offensive Player of the Year and All-UFL QB Bryce Perkins standing on the opposite sideline. Ta’amu, the league’s leader in passing touchdowns, continued what is the most impressive season by a passer in UFL history with 390 passing yards, completing 75% of his passes (21 of 28) for four touchdowns — in three quarters.”
The Defender previously reached the playoffs in 2023, when the league was still known as the “XFL.”
Young added, “At halftime, Ta’amu had completed 16 of 20 passes for 320 yards, as everything the Defenders did offensively worked.”
Jordan Ta’amu’s Brief Stint with Vikings
Right before the start of the 2023 regular season, the Vikings signed Ta’amu for preseason roster depth. Five months prior, Ta’amu won the XFL’s 2023 Offensive Player of the Year award, the springboard to his brief audition with the Vikings.
Ta’amu predictably didn’t last long in Minnesota, released after one week of service. He would later re-sign with the Defenders on February 22, 2024. The Vikings rolled with Kirk Cousins, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall at quarterback that season, but traded for Joshua Dobbs about two months later.
What’s Next for Ta’amu?
Ta’amu will hope to parlay his UFL Championship MVP into an NFL contract, and truth be told, after the XFL OPOY honor in 2023 and now MVP hardware in the title game, the man should get an honest-to-goodness audition for some team’s QB3 job. Of course, those jobs are mostly spoken for with training camps about six weeks away, yet Ta’amu deserves a look from an NFL team.
Look at it this way: What good is the UFL from an NFL perspective if the Championship MVP can’t get a trial at training camp?
Ta’amu, too, is in his career’s prime at 27 years old.
UFL Could Grow
The UFL may expand, according to USA Today‘s Jacob Camenker, or at least the league’s brass is considering it.
Camenker wrote Sunday after the Defenders’ triumph, “The UFL’s executive vice president of football operations Daryl Johnston added that it’s ‘great’ to hear so many are interested in the league’s potential expansion. However, he was adamant sustainability is at the front of the league’s mind as it evaluates potential UFL markets.”
“The league’s reticence about expansion comes after ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported USFL Enterprises LLC — which owns the USFL conference side of the UFL — had filed trademarks for the names of the names of four original USFL teams: Oakland Invaders, Philadelphia Stars, New Jersey Generals, and Tampa Bay Bandits.”
The UFL has experienced modest growth in popularity recently.
Camenker added, “Either way, the UFL isn’t looking to rush into a hasty decision about expansion. The league is simply getting its ducks in a row as it considers the possibility.”
“The filings occurred on May 6, 2025. It isn’t clear whether the league views these as potential future market options or if it just wants to own the former USFL team names. Expansion is one of the UFL’s eventual goals, but improving its attendance remains one of its No. 1 priorities.”
Ta’amu has also made temporary stops with the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, and Carolina Panthers since 2019, though he’s never taken a regular season snap in the NFL.
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