Jake Paul and Nate Diaz briefly got physical in their pre-fight face-off as they met for the first time since announcing their August grudge fight at an awkward press conference tonight.
The social media star has amassed a 6-1 boxing record since turning professional in 2020, but suffered his first loss earlier this year at the hands of Tommy Fury. He had always planned to face UFC legend Diaz after facing the Brit in Saudi Arabia, and hasn't deferred from that plan even after suffering his first defeat.
Paul and Diaz have had a long-standing rivalry, dating back to the end of 2021 when the former lightweight title challenger was ringside for the YouTuber's rematch with Tyron Woodley. The pair's teams have had multiple clashes since, with the bout finally being agreed last month between the two, but the pair were mostly respectful throughout a tense launch event.
Speaking at a press conference today, Paul said: "Nate Diaz was always the plan after Tommy, that's what I always said in the build-up 'Nate Diaz is after Tommy,' it was always the plan. This is a big fight, a fight I've wanted for a long time, he got out of his UFC contract.
"Now this is probably the biggest fight of the year, only topping me vs Tommy. So I want to make big events, big fights happen and strike while the iron is hot. Let's settle the s*** talk and I'm ready for war, I'm excited to be here - I'm going to do what Conor McGregor couldn't do and I'm going to knock this man out.
"I'm filled with vengeance, ambition, hunger, drive more than ever before. I have a lot to prove, two chips on each shoulder and it's do or die for me, truly this fight is do or die. I have to leave it all on the line and I think that's the same for Nate Diaz.
"He's leaving the UFC on a win and he wants to come into this game, make a bunch of money, knock out the YouTuber kid and go back and finish his legacy off. That's why this is such an amazing fight. But I just lost so if I lose again where does that leave me? So it's two people who can't lose, don't want to lose, who never back down, keep on fighting and that's why this is war.
"This is the only thing I'm focused on and I'm filled with that hunger and I have more conviction now about what I'm going to do in this sport."
Diaz added: "My plan in fighting is always to fight the biggest name and the best fighters there are. I've been trying to get out of the UFC for a long time because I knew what I was worth, what fighters are worth and what I should do. It was a long road but when I was on the way out he was doing the biggest and best things for fighters and in fighting.
"I was glad I had a worthy opponent to make an attack on so it seems I've got it. I appreciate everything I've done and had to go through because it got me to the point where I understood what I needed to do and what I wanted to happen and what should happen. People don't really watch the blueprint of what should be done but I was watching the whole time and time will tell."
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"I don't even know who won or lost," Diaz joked of the Fury fight. "That's why I wanted to fight too, usually I want to fight the guys who won their fights too but I don't think anybody lost in the fight anyway and I think it was a hard fight to take anyway, Tommy Fury. It's not a very big deal.
"I didn't like the build-up to his last fight with Tommy Fury, I was taking offence because I was being stereotyped as a MMA fighter. Tommy Fury was saying 'he's a MMA fighter, not a boxer,' but Anderson Silva would whip Tommy Fury's a** so that was kind of stupid.
"I don't like being stereotyped as a MMA fighter, I like the art of each art, I'm a black belt in jiu-jitsu and I would have been a professional boxer when I was 18-years-old but a cage fight came up first so I was stuck in a cage my whole career and there were times when I got locked in a contract by the UFC where I wanted to get out and do boxing but it was contract after contract.
The bout takes place on August 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, with the duo being joined atop the bill by Amanda Serrano and Heather Hardy in an undisputed featherweight title rematch. The pair fought to a decision back in 2019 which Serrano won in dominant fashion, and will meet again as the co-headliner of this major pay-per-view card.
