Jake Paul’s MMA debut seems to come down to one thing: Whether or not Nate Diaz wants to face him in the PFL cage.
Paul defeated the former UFC star via unanimous decision in their August 2023 matchup in Dallas. Since then, Paul — who signed with the PFL for an eventual MMA debut — along with promotional brass have continued to challenge Diaz for a rematch in mixed martial arts.
During a special roundtable featuring Paul, Amanda Serrano and MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian, Paul and Serrano were asked when they would compete for the PFL.
“We want to, but our opponents don’t actually really want to,” Paul told MMA Fighting. “It’s funny that Nate Diaz is actually scared to fight me in MMA. The biggest payday of his life would be me and him in MMA. I’m ready.”
Paul recently defeated former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson via unanimous decision in a highly criticized, yet unbelievably lucrative main event bout at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas this past month. The bout was viewed on Netflix by over 100 million people during the first live sporting event ever for the streaming platform.
According to Bidarian, Paul would absolutely compete in MMA, but it would have to be the right opponent. Currently, Bidarian believes it is Diaz and nobody else that would take Paul’s focus off of the sweet science.
“Jake just put on the biggest boxing event in history,” Bidarian said. “If the right opponent, if Nate Diaz wants to fight, Jake has always said he wants to do it. But he’s very focused on boxing.”
After a clip from the MMA Fighting social media pages caught his attention, Diaz responded and accepted Paul’s challenge with some conditions.
Hard to think Nate couldnt sub Jake
Zero Doubt
PFL is so retarded… Paul is never fighting MMA for these clowns like we were promised.
I doubt Nate is scared but you know who he wouldn’t be scared of? Someone’s that’s actually Jake’s size while not being 50 years old.
Jake’s 0-1 in fair fights.
I think he will, but against a complete shitbum or paid to lose opponents. Or maybe just a way past their prime fighter who is stylistically not much of a threat. Either way, it won’t be worth watching for me.
Nate is not a takedown type fighter. He will box. JP has a decent weight advantage on him. Will watch though.
I assume Jake is transitioning to training for mma. He will probably be fine with his takedown and sub defense. Jake knows what he’s doing.
This.
He’s not stupid, and he’d be going against a guy who doesn’t really look for takedowns and isn’t going to pick him up and dump him, and isn’t going to throw many, if any kicks. It would probably be similar to their boxing match, just smaller gloves.
Which is exactly why Paul would like his chances.
Again with the retired way smaller guys
Can this poser just go away
DoesJake have any wrestling experience?
jake trying his hardest to give pfl a profitable PPV
Yes
Wrestled when he was a kid
Connor vs Jake in Dallas…not Nate.
No doubt he’s asking Nate to face him at 185 when Nate is really a 155er. Pathetic