Paul has done some calculations on what skills he’ll need to beat Diaz in the PFL smart cage and thinks he’ll take a potential 2024 MMA match against Diaz.
Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz 2 in the Professional Fight League (PFL) is sounding more and more likely by the day, and according to Jake it’s not just a money grab. He plans on beating Nate in the smartcage the same way he just beat Nate in the boxing ring (watch the highlights here).
In a new episode of Logan Paul’s Impaulsive YouTube show, Jake said he couldn’t beat Nate in a cage fight — not today, at least.
“Not right now … but in a year, maybe,” Paul said. “But honestly, I’ll will it into existence and I’ll work so f—ing hard that I could do it. And the best part about it is the MMA match, obviously, starts standing up like a boxing match. He can’t hurt me with punches. His kicks aren’t gonna be strong. If his punches aren’t strong, how are his kicks gonna be?”
The infamous 10th round guillotine Nate Diaz momentarily locked up on Jake Paul was brought up, but Jake laughed it off.
“Of course you can get a guillotine on someone when they’re not expecting it in a f—ing boxing match,” he said. “Duh. Yeah he was actually choking me. It was hilarious. I would have picked him up and slammed him. It was the 10th round, he was being funny. But I was fine. Honestly, it was funny. But if I can prepare for it.
“The crazy thing about it, I’ve done the calculations in my head,” Paul continued. “We start standing up. I learn kicks, right? I learn how to defend kicks. I’m beating his ass standing up clear as day in boxing. He tries to get close to me, I can just stick and move. He tries to take me down, my takedown defense is better than his. I have way higher wrestling experience than him. He’s not gonna be able to take me down. He’s slow so I’m gonna see the shots coming. Boom, block the shots. He can’t take me down to submit me, it becomes a standing match.
“Three five minute rounds. Easy. I just fought for 30 minutes, that’s 15 minutes. I can work twice as hard in half the amount of time, spend twice as much energy to keep him away from me while punching, not letting him take me down, and I will just have to watch out for his guillotine. Because he has a really good guillotine.”
“Seriously, with eight to nine months of training, I know I can beat Nate Diaz in MMA,” Paul concluded.
That’s some pretty ambitious math, but we’ve learned those Paul brothers aren’t afraid to jump headfirst into something to try and make it happen. Thus far they haven’t faceplanted very often. Jake Paul crossing over into MMA is a huge challenge, but that’s the point, right? At a certain date people are going to get tired of seeing “The Problem Child” box up elderly MMA statesmen.
Now there’s a fresh challenge, and the opportunity for Nate Diaz to ply his trade against a disadvantaged boxer. That boxer is still much larger and younger, but that’s all part of the interest factor. And we hate to admit it, but we’re interested in seeing Jake Paul try this.
For complete Paul vs. Diaz results, coverage and highlights click HERE.