Nate Diaz called out for “weaseling out” of $15m MMA fight with Jake Paul
YouTube: In Depth/Instagram: Nate DiazNate Diaz has been accused of “weaseling out” of his MMA fight with Jake Paul, as PFL founder Donn Davis said it could be worth around $15m to the former UFC star.
Just before he and Nate Diaz initially signed on to fight each other in the boxing ring, Jake Paul confirmed that he had signed a multi-year deal with PFL to make his MMA debut with them.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer then offered Diaz a two-fight deal – with the first coming in boxing, before a rematch under MMA rules, something the former UFC star would be familiar with. Diaz initially stated that he’d be up for it, however, he changed tact after fight night.
Jake went on to defeat Nate by unanimous decision, and while he’s agreed to fight an unnamed opponent in his return to the ring on December 15, he’s continued calling Diaz out for an MMA clash.
PFL boss calls out Nate Diaz for “weaseling out” of Jake Paul fight
Now, PFL founder Donn Davis has jumped on those callouts, taking a dig at Nate during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
Davis accused Diaz of “weaseling out” of fighting Jake and stated that a fight like that could be staged somewhere like the massive MSG Sphere in Las Vegas, and be Nate’s biggest payday by some distance.
“I respect Nate, he’s the people’s champ, he’s a mans man, he’s stand-up as all stand-up, but he said he’d do it in a PFL SmartCage to you two minutes to you (Ariel) after the fight. He’s got a standing offer between $10-15 million and he’s hiding behind a rock,” Davis said.
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The PFL founder was pressed on whether or not he was confident the fight would happen and just reiterated the $10-15 million figure as the “biggest payday” that Nate could get.
Diaz has previously stated he’d like to return to the UFC to make the fight happen, but that’s unlikely to ever happen given Jake’s rivalry with Dana White.