Jake Paul has argued the case for Nate Diaz to be paid $20million for a third fight with Conor McGregor, around ten times his disclosed pay for their rematch.
The UFC star is one of the most recognisable fighters in the world, but has struggled to fight consistenly since his series of bouts with the Irishman in 2016. Diaz shocked the world when he submitted McGregor in their first meeting, before narrowly losing by majority decision five months later.
But he has fought just three times since, with a number of issues arising between him and the company including around money. He returned after almost three years out to beat Anthony Pettis in August of 2019, before losing to Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards in his last two.
And Jake Paul believes that the UFC should be paying major money to put together a trilogy bout between McGregor and Diaz as soon as the Irishman is healthy. "Monday Lesson," he tweeted. "Nate Diaz should be guaranteed $20m per fight or 20 per cent of the revenue of the event for fighting any of Dustin, Conor or Jorge.
"That’s 20 per cent of all revenues (not just PPV). Pretty simple math. If you dispute this then you don’t know s*** about the fight business."
But with Diaz just one fight away from finally freeing himself of his UFC contract, the promotion aren't keen to provide him with a realistic bout, only offering an unfavourable match-up with Khamzat Chimaev in lieu of an extension.
Mirror Fighting understands Diaz would be the favoured match-up for Paul's return to the boxing ring this August, but there's very little chance that he will be available given his contract situation. He had been set to face Vicente Luque earlier this year, and was also in talks for a last minute fight with Dustin Poirier, but both fell through for different reasons.
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Diaz made an appearance at Paul's last fight with Tyron Woodley, showing up at almost all of the fight week events to support teammate Chris Avila who defeated Paul's teammate Anthony Taylor on the prelims. It was there where he got into an altercation with Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee, as well as leaving before Paul's highlight reel knockout win.
The former UFC lightweight title contender requested his release on Saturday, saying in a tweet: "I would like to request to be released from the UFC. I apologise for asking online but you don’t give me a fight ASAP I got s*** to do."
He later added: "Motherf****** be crying cause they get dropped from the UFC [and] I can’t pay out this b****". Paul responded to Diaz's calls for a release by responding "Free Nate Diaz" and then later "August", which is the month when he returns to the ring.
