Following the announcement of his return to combat sports on August 5. in the form of a professional boxing match against professional boxer, Jake Paul, former UFC lightweight title challenger, Nate Diaz has confirmed he will to the Octagon after the venture.
Diaz, a former welterweight contender and lightweight title challenger under the banner of the UFC, departed the promotion back in November of last year, after his contractual obligations with the promotion were completed.
The Stockton fan-favorite bowed out of the Dana White-led organization off the back of a victory, submitting former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson with a fourth round guillotine choke in the main event of UFC 279 back in September.
Nate Diaz books August boxing debut against Jake Paul
Linked with a transition to professional boxing off the back of his departure, Nate Diaz was announced as part of a DAZN PPV event in Dallas, Texas earlier today – taking on 6-1 boxer, Paul over the course of eight rounds in a middleweight matchup at the American Airlines Center.
Providing his thoughts on the matchup against Paul, Diaz claimed beyond decorated world champion, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – the Ohio native was the biggest name in professional boxing today, before confirming his intentions to return to the UFC following the August clash.
“Besides ‘Canelo’ [Alvarez], he’s [Jake Paul] the biggest thang (sic) in boxing,” Nate Diaz said in a press release. “I’m here to conquer that. I’m the king of combat sports and then I’m headed back to get my UFC belts. I f*cked up Conor (McGregor) for acting out and now here I am again, like a super hero of the real fight game – the king of the real fight game.” (H/T MMA Fighting)
Competing for undisputed lightweight spoils under the UFC banner back in 2012, Diaz suffered a unanimous decision loss to then-undisputed gold holder, Benson Henderson.
Most notably, Diaz secured a second round rear-naked choke victory over former two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor in 2016 – handing the Crumlin native his first loss under the banner of the organization.