Paul Taylor (born 15 December 1979) is an English retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor from 2002 until 2013, Taylor also competed for Cage Rage.

Taylor fought for Team Kaobon of Liverpool and was a WPKC World Kickboxing Champion. Taylor got into MMA when his coach entered him in the UK's first cage tournament, Cage Rage. Taylor had given up kickboxing after becoming disillusioned at the lack of money in the sport.

After giving up kickboxing, Taylor decided to retrain as a carpenter whilst doing MMA on the side, but eventually trained MMA full-time until his retirement.

Taylor sent a DVD of his fighting to the UFC to try and secure a contract with the organization and they signed him immediately.

In his UFC debut, Taylor stopped previously undefeated Edilberto de Oliveira via TKO due to strikes early in the third round.

His second UFC fight at UFC 75 was a loss via armbar to Marcus Davis. Although Taylor lost the fight he came close to winning with the referee seconds away from stopping the action due to Taylor connecting with a high kick and landing several blows on a rocked Davis. Due to its high pace and excitement the fight was awarded Fight of the Night.

His next fight at UFC 80 was a loss via unanimous decision to fellow countryman Paul Kelly. Although he lost, Taylor along with Kelly was awarded $35,000 as a bonus for Fight of the Night. This was the second time that Taylor had won the award.

Taylor fought Jess Liaudin in a rematch at UFC 85. Taylor won by split decision.