Getty Jake Paul claps before his official weigh in.
UFC analyst Michael Bisping gave his take on a potential boxing match between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz.
This past Saturday, social media influencer turned boxer Paul faced mixed martial arts legend Anderson Silva in the headlining bout at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Paul and Silva battled it out in a competitive affair, with Paul scoring the sole knockdown of the contest. He managed to edge out Silva after going the distance and got the nod on the judges’ scorecards by unanimous decision.
Following the match, ‘The Problem Child’ called out UFC fan favorite Diaz for a super fight. Diaz completed the last fight on his deal with the promotion in September when he took on Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. He announced that he intends to explore free agency and would likely not immediately re-sign with the company.
Diaz was in attendance for the card and got into a brief scuffle with Paul’s team backstage just before the main event. He expressed interest in competing against Paul but would need to wait till his exclusive negotiating period with the UFC expires.
Bisping Backed Paul To Beat Diaz
Former UFC middleweight champion Bisping shared his thoughts on a potential clash between Diaz and Paul in the boxing ring.
“With boxing gloves on, I don’t think it will be a good idea for Nate Diaz. He’s a tremendous mixed martial artist,” Bisping said in a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel. He’s beat some phenomenal people, had a tremendous career. He lost some fights and he won a lot of fights. The jiu-jitsu would be gone, the kicking game would be gone, just the general craftsmanship, game plans, the adversity of punches, knees, kicks, elbows, strangles, chokeholds, triangles, takedowns, you name it. That’s what Diaz can do. They are the advantages he has over Jake Paul.
“If he was to fight Jake Paul, and at that weight, 200 pounds or 196 pounds, whatever weight they want to come in at, I don’t think it would go very well for Diaz. However, I will say this, they would both make a lot of money.”
Bisping Was Not a Fan of Diaz’s Stunts at the Event
‘The Count’ expressed his disapproval of the incident between the teams of Diaz and Paul.
“He called out Nate Diaz. He was there with his crew and as usual getting up to all kinds of shenanigans. I’m not sure what happened. Apparently, Jake says that Nate Diaz tried to go into his dressing room. There’s a video online where there was a bit of altercation in the hallways. Diaz Stockton slapped somebody and then he got thrown out of the arena by all the security. Diaz was streaming it live on Instagram
“People always think I hate on Nate Diaz. I’m not hating on him at all but it’s going to sound like it when I say this; getting thrown out arenas at 40 years old. I mean, come on.”
According to the UFC Hall of Famer, Diaz should not be pulling similar stunts but suggested it could be for promotion.
“He’s pushing 40 but all is good and fair in love and war. I guess it’s tremendous hype for the fight. Maybe he knew what he was doing, maybe that’s what they are working at. But just because they got a bit of pre-hype footage because Jake Paul is calling him out, Diaz is calling him out. We don’t even know if that fight is going to take place yet because the UFC still have an exclusive negotiation clause. There’s a period of time that needs to pass with Diaz and the UFC.“