Nate Diaz is finally able to explore his options – and Jake Paul is apparently one of them.
The full lineup of potential suitors isn’t known, but Diaz recently expressed interest in a boxing match with Paul, something he was noncommittal to before his Sept. 10 bout at UFC 279. With the final bout on his UFC contract behind him, Diaz spoke a tad more openly about his future while in attendance at Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin 3 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
“(Jake Paul) is for sure one of the options,” Diaz told iD Boxing. “He’s doing big stuff. He’s doing big things. He’s got a big fight ahead of him. If he wins that, I’m sure people will be really impressed by it. And if Anderson (Silva) does his thing on him, that’s impressive also. Now we’ve got a fight on his hands. I’m looking forward to it.”
Paul, 25, is 5-0 in professional boxing and has long expressed interest in a bout vs. Diaz. He is currently scheduled to fight Silva (3-0), a former UFC middleweight champion, Oct. 29 in Glendale, Ariz. on Showtime pay-per-view.
So who is Diaz taking?
“Fifty-fifty,” Diaz said. “I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
Whether it’s Paul or someone else, Diaz indicated boxing is where he’ll land. His love for it predates his MMA career, something Diaz said was never his intention to happen.
“From 17 or 18 years old, I was starting to fight, I was boxing with my boxing coach,” Diaz said. “There were boxers all over my gym, and I was going to box initially, but MMA shows were more around my area, and they were happening, so I got stuck in MMA. I got stuck in a cage this whole time with contracts and stuff. Now everything is open for the taking. I never stopped training for a boxing fight since I started fighting. When the right opponent or right thing comes, we’re going to take it.”
Diaz, 37, enters free agency off a submission win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. The victory came after an elongated, public contract battle with the promotion. While Diaz hasn’t ruled out a return to the promotion, he plans to test the waters of other combat sports first.
