Jake Paul has made a two-fight offer to face Nate Diaz, with the rematch taking place inside the MMA cage under the PFL banner.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer will transition to MMA later this year after signing with the Professional Fighters' League, arguably the No.2 promotion in the sport, and wants to waste no time taking on a tough veteran. The pair have been eyeing up a fight for over a year, with Diaz showing up at the last two of Paul's events, and now a sweetener could be put on the deal.
Paul has offered that he and Diaz first fight in the boxing ring, before taking their rivalry into the PFL's 'smart cage' where they would fight under full professional MMA rules. The Ohio native has never competed in MMA before despite his boxing and wrestling backgrounds, while his rival is a 34-fight veteran.
"I've already disrupted boxing and now it's time to disrupt MMA," Paul told fans in a YouTube video announcing his signing with PFL. "I know this is such a tough sport and it's not going to be easy. But if I could do it in boxing, I could do it in MMA. I'm so dedicated to this that I offered Nate Diaz a two-fight deal.
"First, we box. Then six months later we fight MMA in the PFL 'smart cage' and lay it all on the line. If that's not balls, then I don't know what is. Nate Diaz, I'm down to fight you in your own damn sport. It's a two-fight deal, let's make this happen."
Paul is 6-0 as a professional boxer, and is no stranger to the world of MMA having fought three legends of the sport in Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva. Askren was a world champion in Bellator and ONE FC, while Woodley and Silva were iconic UFC title holders with lengthy reigns.
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But he faces a whole new kind of challenge when he debuts in the PFL's new 'super-fight' series, which will see him bring them back to pay-per-view with bouts outside of their usual league format. Paul is expected to box once before he moves into the cage, eventually hoping to face Diaz in a monstrous bout that would draw huge attention.
Both Paul and his manager Nakisa Bidarian will be receiving equity in the promotion as part of the deal, with the fighter becoming PFL's 'head of fighter advocacy', which will see him promote fighters to his tens of millions of social media followers. Bidarian was the UFC's Chief Financial Officer when they were sold to WME-IMG, now known as Endeavor, for $4billion.
Diaz recently fought his way out of his UFC contract when he defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in September. He is in limbo at the moment due to the complexity of their deals, but is expected to be inundated with fight offers from around MMA, boxing and even bare-knuckle.
