Nate Diaz's fellow lightweight MMA fighter Bobby Green has backed him to finally hand Jake Paul a stoppage loss when the pair meet in August.
Diaz and Paul will meet at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on August 5 after years of back-and-forth, with many believing that after his exploits against other MMA fighters that Paul should win. But UFC star Green has picked the former octagon icon to win in his professional boxing debut against the YouTuber.
Paul first encountered Diaz when his teammate Anthony Taylor fought Chris Avila on the undercard of his rematch with Tyron Woodley at the end of 2021. There were incidents throughout fight week, but after defeating Taylor, Avila was invited back for his next bout with Silva where he defeated YouTuber Dr Mike Varshavski. It was there that Diaz and Paul first got into it backstage.
“F*** yeah he really deserves it,” Green told Sportskeeda of the massive payday Diaz is expected to receive for the bout. “I was just training with Nate a couple of weeks ago. We were getting it in and I think he’s going to have the perfect style to expose Jake. A lot of people sleep on his boxing but his boxing’s really good.
"It’s actually a better boxing than a MMA fighter. Don’t get me wrong, his [Brazilian Jiu Jitsu] is sick, but his boxing is probably number 1, and people don’t realise that. That issue with MMA the gloves are smaller and so when you do certain techniques in boxing, they don’t exactly translate to MMA as well.”
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Diaz has had the support of the MMA community since the bout was announced last week, with many hoping that he can hand Paul his second consecutive loss, and become the first fighter to stop him. To do that, Diaz would need to become the first MMA fighter to outbox Paul, who has been fighting professionally for three years.
Paul's former opponent Anderson Silva has also picked Diaz to win, telling Fight Hub TV : “Jake’s training a lot. People need to respect everything he’s doing, because it’s very professional and focused. It’s very hard to say who wins, because both are good fighters. Nate is more experienced, he has good boxing and good cardio. I respect both.
“Jake has a good coach, he’s very smart. The fight is not about power, it’s about timing and both have good timing. Jake has now some good experience in boxing and is learning every day, but Nate is a beast! When you go to fight him, you need to prepare for war. I think he has more experience and is the favourite.”
