YouTube star Jake Paul mocked the Dallas crowd as he was loudly booed after beating UFC star Nate Diaz in their highly-anticipated crossover boxing fight.
Diaz was far and away the crowd favourite in Texas as Paul – who happily played the role of villain in the lead-up to the fight – was booed on his way to the ring, faced audible chants of ‘f*** Jake Paul’ throughout the fight and then continued to be jeered after his hand was raised in victory.
The 26-year-old hit back at the American Airlines Center crowd during his post-fight interview however, as he cupped his hand to his ear amid the boos and stopped mid-answer to mock the supporters by saying “boo if you’re a virgin” before laughing sarcastically to himself.
“He's tough, he's real tough, that's what he's known for but tough in this sport doesn't work,” began Paul, in reference to his opponent. And as the boos heightened, he continued “Boo if you're a virgin. Ha. Haha.”
Paul had largely dominated the fight against Diaz, who was fighting for the first time since leaving the UFC and although proved an awkward opponent on his boxing debut, lacked the power to really hurt the heavily-favoured YouTuber.
Paul scored a knockdown in the fifth round of their 10-round contest with a vicious left hook but 38-year-old Diaz got back to his feet and made the final bell. However, the judges’ scorecards showed the relatively one-sided nature of the victory as the younger man prevailed 97-92, 98-91, 98-91.
Jake Paul knocked down Nate Diaz during his points victory in Dallas— (USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con)
That moved his boxing record to 7-1 and, having gone 10 rounds for the first time in his young career, he was keen to take the plaudits while also crediting Diaz for his heart.
“I knocked him down and won basically every round, I think he won one round,” continued Paul. “But he's a warrior – I had him hurt in the first round, he kept on coming. No one is taking that much damage.
“All credit to my team and my conditioning, I went 10 rounds in my eighth fight – it's unheard of. I've only been boxing for three years and beat a UFC legend who I was watching this growing up.”
Before this bout, Paul had knocked out MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley – the latter a former UFC champion – and beat UFC legend Anderson Silva on points, although his most recent fight was a first career defeat to Tommy Fury. In that long-awaited fight in Saudi Arabia, Fury – half-brother of world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson – was knocked down but emerged victorious on points.
Diaz is a longtime favourite of MMA fans – as shown by the vocal support he received in Dallas – but achieved crossover fame when he submitted Conor McGregor in March 2016, five months before losing a narrow decision to the Irishman. Last September, Diaz won his final UFC fight by submitting Tony Ferguson.
Paul largely dominated an entertaining fight— (Getty Images)
Although a rematch to avenge his loss to Fury would seem to be a possibility after the Brit completes his own scheduled bout with another YouTuber, KSI, in October, Paul insisted his focus was the offer of $10m he has put on the table to face Diaz once more, under MMA rules.
“I want to run this back in MMA,” explained Paul. “10 million dollars, PFL, that's the offer, let's run this back in MMA. Make it fair. I won one, now it's your chance in your home territory. MMA. Let's do it.”
While Diaz didn’t fully commit to a rematch, he did sound amenable to the possibility, saying: “We're gonna have to try to do it. But I had the single leg in the first and the choke in the ninth [referencing a couple of MMA moves he tried to slip into the fight], so I already won that battle!”
