"Nate Diaz probably should go on and fight Jake Paul" - Dana White responds to Nate Diaz's latest demand to be released from the UFC
Nate Diaz hasn't fought in over a year and has clearly become impatient waiting on the UFC to give him the final fight on his contract. For whatever reason, it just isn't happening and that's left both Diaz and UFC president Dana White frustrated.
In a new interview with The Mac Life, White addressed the younger Diaz brother's status and whether they have a bout lined up for him. White said:
"Dealing with Nate is always... fun, exciting, interesting. We'll see. I don't know what we're going to do. I don't know. Listen, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to look at it and see... lots of game playing and you know, whatever. Listen, contractually, we gotta give him a fight. We'll get him a fight."
When asked about Diaz's recent Twitter post implying he wanted to leave the UFC and box Jake Paul, an exasperated White replied:
"I like Nate. Let's be honest. Nate's won one fight in the last five or six years... Nate Diaz isn't going to come in and fight Kamaru Usman, so listen, we're trying to do the best we can. Trying not to s*** on anybody or disrespect anybody, but it's not like we're talking about Kamaru Usman here. We're talking about Nate Diaz. Nate's won one fight in five years, so we're trying to figure this thing out with him. He probably should go on and fight Jake Paul. That's a fight that makes sense."
While the UFC isn't interested in booking Nate Diaz vs. Kamaru Usman, they have been quite insistent on having him face Khamzat Chimaev, who is looking like one of Usman's biggest future challenges. The UFC formally offered the fight to Diaz at least twice, extending his contract every time the popular Stockton fighter refused. If there's game-playing going on, it's definitely going on with both sides.
Watch Dana White's full interview below:
Nate Diaz teases a fight against Jake Paul in latest call to be released from UFC
Nate Diaz took to Twitter earlier this week to once again call for his release. This time he included a video of Jake Paul knocking out Tyron Woodley, which certainly raised the eyebrows of his followers. He wrote:
"Ufc release now please or give me fight with anyone in July or august. I have bigger s*** to do"
Ufc release now please or give me fight with anyone in July or august
I have bigger shit to do https://t.co/xyYSCBysLs
While fighting Jake Paul might seem like a big step down for Diaz, the money he'd make from the bout (and a rematch should he school 'The Problem Child') would undoubtedly eclipse anything Diaz made with the UFC short of his two fights against Conor McGregor.
Tyron Woodley was paid two million dollars plus a percentage of pay-per-view sales for his first fight against Jake Paul. Diaz, an established pay-per-view draw whose headlining events have sold over 3.5 million units for the UFC, would earn way more.