Derek Brunson eyes Nate Diaz-esque deal with Jake Paul that UFC contract stopped him from signing before

Former UFC star Derek Brunson is eyeing a Nate Diaz-esque deal with Jake Paul.

Brunson has been quite open to fighting Paul in the squared circle. While he wasn't able to do so under the UFC's banner, his recent move to the PFL might open the door for a potential fight against 'The Problem Child'.

During a recent interview with SunSport, Derek Brunson spoke about how Jake Paul reached out to Dana White for a potential boxing matchup a couple of years ago. He said:

“Jake Paul is now with the PFL, we’ve got a bit of history. He asked Dana to fight me a couple years ago, so that’s a possibility. People saw me going over to the PFL and thought the timetable was there and it was perfect."

Further, Derek Brunson also spoke about his willingness to fight Jake Paul in an MMA bout as well. Upon being asked if he would agree to a double-header deal that was offered to Nate Diaz to face Paul in boxing and MMA, Brunson said:

"Yeah, I’d be open to that. I love challenging myself, so definitely I’d be up for that.”

Derek Brunson is set to make his PFL debut this weekend

The former UFC star is set to make his PFL debut this weekend against Ray Cooper III. After suffering a second-round TKO loss at the hands of Dricus du Plessis in March and extending his losing streak to two fights, he will look to start his journey with PFL on a winning note.

However, Derek Brunson has a big challenge ahead of him in the form of Ray Cooper III who is a 2 time winner of the $1 million tournament in the welterweight division. While the Brunson vs. Cooper bout was scheduled to be at middleweight, it will now go ahead as a catchweight contest after Cooper missed weight.

It is worth noting that Ray Cooper III stepped up in weight because cutting down to the welterweight limit was becoming a problem for him and his inability to make the middleweight limit further highlights his weight cutting issues.