YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has reiterated his interest in fighting former UFC stars Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz under MMA rules, despite their lack of response to his previous offers.
Jake Paul’s gaze hasn’t wavered. He’s still got his sights set on a couple of MMA’s biggest names.
On the first of June, we’re gonna see Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz go head-to-head. It’s a boxing match, but it feels like a rematch of their UFC 244 “BMF” title fight. Masvidal took that one, thanks to a doctor’s stoppage.
Masvidal’s been on The MMA Hour, promoting his fight with Diaz. He took a moment to throw some shade at Paul, saying the YouTuber-turned-boxer is beneath him.
Paul’s been pretty vocal about wanting to fight Masvidal and Diaz. He wants to do it under MMA rules. He can’t figure out why they haven’t taken him up on it.
On his BS podcast, Paul said, “They’re digging their own grave. I’m serious about wanting to fight them in MMA. Either Masvidal or Diaz in the PFL. I’ve got a ten million dollar offer for either one of them.”
He continued, “They hide behind excuses. Like Masvidal saying, ‘You can’t even box. What are you going to do in MMA?’ But none of them have come to the table to talk business. The offer still stands. I want either one of them in MMA.”
Paul and Diaz had a boxing match last August. Paul won that one, and he’s been trying to get Diaz to meet him in an MMA bout with the PFL. Diaz wasn’t interested.
Paul also tried to spar with Sean Strickland, a former UFC middleweight champ. Strickland says the UFC wouldn’t let him take Paul’s million-dollar offer.
Paul thinks the UFC is scared of what he might do to their fighters. He said, “That’s why they don’t want Masvidal to box me. They gave Masvidal a list of 35 names he could box. I wasn’t on it.”
Next up for Paul is a boxing match with Mike Tyson. That’s happening on July 20, live on Netflix. Once that’s done, Paul’s open to making his MMA debut under the PFL banner.
“I have Mike, but we’ll just do it after that,” Paul said. “I would do like a six-month camp to work on MMA.”