Dustin Poirier doesn’t like Nate Diaz’s chances against the much bigger, more explosive Jake Paul.
Back in 2019, Nate Diaz fought Jorge Masvidal for the inaugural Baddest Motherf—er Belt. While he lost that bout due to a cut stoppage, he still holds a solid claim to being one of the top BMFs. Now this this weekend Dustin Poirier is fighting Justin Gaethje for the BMF at UFC 291, while Nate fights Jake Paul in boxing a week later on August 5th.
Diaz has implied the Paul bout could be a quick detour before he returns to kicking ass in the UFC. If that’s the case, Poirier is still very interested in fighting him.
“I don’t look too far ahead and book myself in fights that aren’t even realistic or a possibility until other things happen,” Poirier said at the UFC 291 media day. “But if he comes back, I’ll beat him up.”
Poirier vs. Diaz almost happened at UFC 230 back in 2018, to the point where the two squared off at a press conference. There’s still heat between the two to this day on who’s to blame for the fight falling apart. Since then, “Diamond” has been hoping things would come back together.
If Diaz returns to the UFC, a fight with Poirier is right behind the McGregor trilogy fight in terms of money and attention. But will the UFC be willing to pay Nate what he’ll know he’s worth after cashing the check from fighting Jake Paul? Maybe after that fight he’ll realize boxing isn’t for him. At least not boxing a much younger, bigger opponent. Like many others, Dustin Poirier isn’t giving Nate Diaz much of a chance against Jake Paul.
“Man,” Poirier said with a long sigh. “You know, Nate does have good boxing. But it’s unorthodox and it works well for MMA, small gloves, pitter pat punches in that small range. But with boxing gloves things are different. Timing’s different, range is a little bit different. And Jake is a big, athletic young kid. If I had to put money on it, I’d put it on Jake.”
Poirier admitted Diaz could survive an early Paul onslaught and then beat up his gassed opponent.
“That could happen,” he agreed. “I’ve been around both guys, Jake is a lot bigger than Nate, a lot more explosive. Has the money and the amenities to put the best people around him and really lock himself away and work on the art. He hasn’t been doing it for that long, but all it takes is one punch from a guy like that, a guy that size.”
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 291 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+/ABC at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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