After losing to the first professional boxer he’s ever faced, the YouTuber-turned-prizefighter is returning to what he does best: finding older, smaller, high-profile athletes from a different sport and making a lot of money off taking a dump on their legacy. It’s a tried and tested formula for Jake Paul, who recently revealed that his next scheduled fight will be against none other than UFC fan favourite Nate Diaz.
The pair will compete in a boxing match held at American Airlines Center in Dallas on August 5th. The agreed weight for the bout has been set at 185 lbs (83 kg) with 10-ounce gloves over the course of eight rounds. The fight will be distributed globally by DAZN pay-per-view.
The 37-year-old Nate Diaz is a beloved fighter in the MMA community and was behind some of the largest UFC PPV events in the company’s history. This will mark Diaz’s first-ever professional boxing match, his first fight outside the UFC in 15 years, as well as the first time he’s ever promoted himself. The upcoming event is being sold as a 50-50 collaboration between Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and Nate Diaz’s Real Fight Inc.
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“My last fight didn’t end the way I wanted, but the result was the best thing that could have happened to my professional boxing aspirations,” Paul said in a statement.
“Now, the world thinks I am vulnerable when all I am is more focused than ever. My team wanted me to take an easy fight like KSI next, but that’s not how I am built. Nate Diaz is considered one of the most bad-ass fighters of all time, but he and his team have been running their mouths for too long.”
Nate Diaz fought the majority of his MMA career at lightweight (155 lbs/70 kg) and the back half of his career at welterweight (170 lbs/77 kg). 12 out of his 21 UFC wins came via submission, including when he fought out his contract against Tony Ferguson earlier this year. The man has a 3rd-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Cesar Gracie. He’s hardly the obvious candidate for a boxing match against a guy that’s fought as heavy as 191.5 lbs (87 kg) as a pro.
“Besides Canelo, he’s the biggest thang in boxing,” Diaz said in a statement.
“I’m here to conquer that. I’m the King of combat sports and then I’m headed back to get my UFC belts. I f—ed up Conor for acting out and now here I am again, like a Super Hero of the Real Fight game, the King of the Real Fight game.”
Nate Diaz has stated his intentions to eventually return to the UFC to settle a trilogy fight against Conor McGregor. Similarly, Jake Paul has made it clear that he eventually wants to avenge his first career loss to Tommy Fury, the brother of heavyweight great Tyson, with whom he had a rematch clause in their February bout. After the publicity that was generated from a (likely staged) altercation backstage between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz’s teams during the former’s fight with Anderson Silva, the money for this fight was probably just too good to pass up for the time being.
In his three-year professional career, the 26-year-old Jake Paul is undefeated in boxing matches against retired MMA fighters, including the aforementioned Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren; the latter two being defeated by way of knockout. Paul’s last fight allegedly did more than 800,000 PPV buys, but it’ll be interesting to see whether he can still get the MMA community to care about one of his fights off the back of a split-decision loss in January. It’ll also be interesting to see whether he ultimately delivers on his promise of an MMA rematch against Diaz within his PFL contract. Time will tell.
