Heralded for turning in a competitive performance in his first venture in professional boxing, former UFC lightweight title challenger, Nate Diaz pushed the now 7-1 Jake Paul the 10 round distance in Dallas, Texas, en route to a back-and-forth unanimous decision (97-92, 98-91, 98-91) defeat to the outspoken Ohio native.
Diaz, making his professional boxing debut tonight at the American Airlines Center in ‘The Lone Star State’, survived a massive scare in the opening round, finding himself on the receiving end of a huge counter hook, rocking the Stockton native and sending him reeling to the ropes for the majority of the opening frame.
A clear step and speed behind Paul throughout the entirety of their 10 round cruiserweight showdown in Dallas, Diaz, who turned in an impressive display toward the latter end of the bout as well as the later rounds, was dropped in the fourth frame by Paul — with another counter left hand shot sending the Californian tumbling to the canvas.
Dropping a unanimous judging defeat to Paul, Diaz was offered a stunning $10,000,000 fight purse to land a rematch with the former under the banner of the PFL (Professional Fighters League) strictly under the unified mixed martial arts ruleset.
Poking fun following his decision loss, Stockton fan-favorite, Diaz joked that in the first round, he could have secured a first round single leg takedown on Paul — as well as maintaining he almost latched onto a guillotine choke both the ninth and final tenth round.