Michael Bisping has stated that he didn’t mean to disrespect Nate Diaz by saying that he’d be outmatched by Jake Paul in a boxing match.
The former UFC champion shared his thoughts on a potential Diaz-Paul fight. He said he didn’t ‘think it would be a good idea’ for Diaz to limit his skillset and transition over to boxing to fight Paul.
Diaz didn’t take too kindly to Bisping’s remarks. He responded by sharing a photo of Bisping’s 2009 knockout loss to Dan Henderson to his social media.
Bisping responded during a recent episode on his YouTube channel.
“As we know, Nate Diaz was in the building, he got escorted out of the building, and he got in a scuffle with Jake Paul,” Bisping said of Diaz. “I said perhaps Nate Diaz would lose to Jake Paul… of course, that touched a nerve with Nate Diaz, he came out on Twitter the other day and said ‘I wanna see one fight this goofy f***ers ever been in’… showed a picture of me getting knocked out against Dan Henderson. Nate Diaz, c’mon mate, what’s your problem? I didn’t say anything bad, I didn’t say anything disrespectful whatsoever.
Michael Bisping believes Nate Diaz will have his skillset limited if he were to box
The England native says his comments weren’t made to insult Diaz as it was just his opinion.
“The reality is the position I’m in…we’re analysts, we’re commentators, we do extracurricular stuff as well… and we talk about the sport and we have to give opinions…sometimes I was right, sometimes I was wrong, but 9 times out of 10 I was offending somebody. I didn’t say anything bad about Nate Diaz, I just said he was the smaller guy and he used to fight at 155. And in a boxing fight he’s going to have all of his skills taken away…and Jake Paul is predominantly a boxer.” (via MMANews.com)
It seems Diaz has paused his MMA career for now and is interested in making his boxing debut. The Stockton native last fought Tony Ferguson at UFC 279.
There have been rumors that Diaz will be Paul’s next opponent in the near future. Paul has been successful against MMA stars such as Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva. If the fight is made, Diaz will have the chance to prove his doubters wrong and start his boxing career on the right track.