Chris Avila will face a social influencer in his next fight as part of the undercard for Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva, but he’s already got an idea for his next opponent with a close friend and teammate serving as the promoter.
During a media conference call on Wednesday, Avila revealed he’d previously been in talks to face multi-time boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and he hopes to revisit that matchup under the banner of Nate Diaz’s new company, which was launched just before Diaz completed his UFC contract.
“I plan on getting in the ring with a vet, someone like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr,” Avila told MMA Fighting on the call. “Someone I was in talks with fighting a while back. I would like to get in there with him under the Real Fight banner. My team the [Nick Diaz] army.”
Real Fight Inc. is the company Diaz launched to promotion MMA, boxing and submission grappling matches. Diaz is seeking his promoter’s license, and it appears he already has at least one potential matchup on his hands with Avila teasing the fight with Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr., the son of legendary boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez, holds a 53-6-1 record with one no-contest; he suffered a decision loss to Silva back in June 2021. Silva then carried that success forward to the fight against Paul.
As for Diaz, he will split his time between promoting events and working on his own fight career now that he’s a free agent.
Before he can compete for Diaz and Real Fight Inc, Avila first has to get through his upcoming opponent, Mikhail “Dr. Mike” Varshavski — an internet personality and physician, who will be making his professional debut on Oct. 29.
While Avila has far more combat sports experience than his opponent, the 29-year-old fighter out of Stockton, Calif., isn’t taking the challenge lightly just because he’s supposed to win.
“No extra pressure,” Avila said. “I take my stuff very seriously. I’m taking this fight and I’m going to get it done with and I want to line myself up with a real fight after this and get back to fighting high competition. I’m not overlooking this guy at all. I’m taking him seriously.”
The novelty surrounding social influencers competing in combat sports has grown ever since Logan Paul and Jake Paul promoted events that attracted millions of viewers, earning them millions of dollars.
“Dr. Mike” is just one of the latest crossovers, but Avila had no problem accepting the fight regardless of his opponent’s experience.
Even as he hopes for a future fight with Chavez Jr., Avila isn’t opposed to another matchup against a social influencer down the road – as long as they sign the contract.
“It doesn’t even matter,” Avila said. “I’ve been fighting real fighters my whole career. I’ll fight anybody. It’s whatever. Whoever wants to fight me, what’s up. I ain’t tripping.”
