TAMPA — Jake Paul is still interested in a rematch against Nate Diaz under MMA rules, but that offer may be a little less enticing now that Diaz is embroiled in his own legal melee.
Diaz filed a lawsuit against Fanmio on Monday alleging that the promotional company owes him $9 million from his recent boxing match against Jorge Masvidal. Diaz opted to box Masvidal despite Paul and PFL founder Donn Davis making very public $15 million offers to Diaz for an MMA rematch between the former UFC superstar and Paul in the PFL cage.
Now that Diaz’s payday against Masvidal appears to have far different than what was advertised, Paul can’t help but chuckle at Diaz’s decision-making process.
“I think Nate Diaz and the Masvidal lawsuit just shows how dumb these people are,” Paul said Wednesday at open workouts for Paul’s bout against BKFC star Mike Perry. “This is not an easy business. Boxing is not easy. It’s not easy to sell pay-per-views. If someone’s giving you a big guarantee, it’s most likely fraudulent. And Nate Diaz should’ve taken my $15 million MMA offer, but yesterday’s price is not today’s price. So now that he needs the money, the offer goes down. And I’m still down to run it in the PFL against Nate Diaz.”
Paul previously defeated Diaz in an August 2023 boxing match, earning a one-sided unanimous decision over the MMA star in a fight that served as Diaz’s pro boxing debut.
In January 2023, Paul and PFL announced a partnership for any future MMA bouts of Paul’s to take place under PFL’s promotional banner. Paul remains committed to boxing first and foremost — he’s already expected to face heavyweight legend Mike Tyson on November 15 after his business with Perry is completed on Saturday — but the 27-year-old reiterated his desire to eventually make his MMA debut in PFL. He just needs the right dance partner.
“I think I’ll make the transition into MMA when the opponent — or an opponent — wants to sign a contract. Somebody that I’m interested in fighting for my first MMA fight,” Paul said. “And that’s a name like Nate Diaz, I would be interested in fighting Mike Perry. But I want to do MMA. I love it. I have a wrestling background and I think it’d be really exciting.”
Watch Paul’s entire open workout scrum above.
