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Here we go again.
In August, after nearly a year of sniping at each other through the media, Jake Paul and Nate Diaz finally faced in their highly anticipated boxing match, with Paul winning a unanimous decision in a back-and-forth affair. Afterwards, the two seemingly parted on good terms, even discussing the possibility of a rematch in MMA, but now the two combat sports stars are back at each others’ throats.
Speaking with TMZ Sports about his next bout, Paul claims that Diaz turned down a lucrative offer for a rematch to happen inside the cage.
“We’re at the drawing board right now. Nate Diaz ducked the $10 million offer, so he’s not the badass that everyone said he was,” Paul said. “I wanted to fight him in MMA and do something that no boxer has really ever done, which is, in the prime of their career, go over to MMA. MMA fighters have gone over to boxing, but I want to go over to MMA and Nate Diaz ducked the offer.”
Paul went on to speculate as to why Diaz wouldn’t be interested in his offer, saying that Diaz earned a lot of money from their boxing match and that the risk of an MMA fight might be too great for the former UFC title challenger.
“With those guys, I don’t know if they have reason,” Paul said. “I don’t even know if they think. There wasn’t a transparent reason. I think it was just something that he realized there’s a lot of risk for him. If I beat him in MMA — which I just dog-walked him in the boxing ring, made it look easy, and if I beat him in MMA, I take his legendary status. So I don’t know if he was like, maybe the risk of this isn’t good enough for the $10 million.”
Paul has never competed in MMA but he is currently signed with the PFL and has an equity stake in the company. Meanwhile, Diaz has his own promotion, Real Fight Inc., which, along with Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions, co-promoted the boxing match between the two. It’s likely that any offers that may have been made to Diaz would have the fight take place inside the PFL, and that discrepancy was front and center when Diaz responded to Paul’s comments on Thursday, along with a picture of Diaz locking in a guillotine choke at the end of their boxing match.
“Here’s your MMA fight b**** your easy [as f***] we can box or fight MMA at [Real Fight Inc.] no problem f*** PFL and f*** [you] p**** [fist emoji].”
With Paul vs. Diaz reportedly selling 500,000 pay-per-view buys, it’s not surprising these two are going back to the well to build a rematch, nor that both men want to have a hand in the promotion of it.
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