Paul: Diaz Is ‘The Weakest Puncher I’ve Ever Fought’

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

After feeling Diaz’s power during their 2023 boxing match, Paul doesn’t understand how Conor McGregor was knocked down by the Stockton fighter. Jake Paul is a busy man: he’s got a dangerou…


Jake Paul v Nate Diaz
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

After feeling Diaz’s power during their 2023 boxing match, Paul doesn’t understand how Conor McGregor was knocked down by the Stockton fighter.

Jake Paul is a busy man: he’s got a dangerous boxing match with “Platinum” Mike Perry on July 20th booked, and then a questionable freakshow match with Mike Tyson set to go down on November 15th. He’s also still hoping to draw former UFC fighter Nate Diaz into an MMA bout with the PFL as well.

Diaz and Paul boxed each other back in August 2023, with Paul winning a 10 round decision handily with 98-91, 98-91, and 97-92 scores. “The Problem Child” then offered up a gimme to Nate: a big money rematch in MMA under the PFL banner. But no amount of money would draw Diaz (who boxes Jorge Masvidal on July 6th) into the cage against him.

“Nate Diaz is ducking me in MMA. He’s actually ducking [an MMA fight], which is crazy,” Paul said on a new episode of his BS podcast. “We upped [the offer] to $15 million. But he actually doesn’t want to do it.”

Paul was joined by UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who recently got into business with the YouTube star hawking deodorant to their smelly subscribers. “Suga” was realistic about Jake’s chances in the cage against Diaz.

“I don’t know how much jiujitsu you know,” O’Malley said diplomatically. “Nate’s a high level black belt. If you can keep it standing, one hundred percent there are winnable ways there. If it went to the ground, I think he might be able to grab your neck.”

“That’s exactly how I feel about it,” Paul replied. “If I don’t get guillotined, then I win the fight. But even if he was on top of him I would just throw him off of me. Because he’s honestly the weakest puncher I’ve ever fought. Like, when he was hitting me I almost started laughing. I’m not even saying this to talk s—. Out of everyone I’ve sparred in my whole entire life and everyone I’ve fought, his punches are the weakest.”

“I’m literally not even talking s—, which is why I think it’s funny that he dropped Conor and s— because it’s like, how?”

Well, for one thing Nate Diaz is a natural 155 pounder and Jake Paul is a horse that cuts down from 220 pounds. Also, Diaz knocked McGregor down seven years ago when the Stockton fighter was at the peak of his career.

Those are the kind of nagging details that you’ll notice again and again if you take a half second to dig into Jake Paul’s record. For example, beating Anderson Silva is impressive! There’s no denying it. But it was a 49-year-old “Spider,” not the Silva who went on a legendary unbeaten streak in the UFC between 2006 and 2012. Paul fought Diaz sixteen years after the Stockton fighter’s arrival in the UFC.

That’s what makes Jake Paul’s upcoming fight against Mike Perry so interesting. Yes, once again Paul is fighting a smaller opponent in Perry, who competed at 170 in the UFC and currently bare-knuckle boxes at 185 pounds. But there’s no denying “Platinum” is at the peak of his game right now, having knocked off Michael “Venom” Page, Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, and Thiago Alves over the last two years.

Let’s see how he does against someone who isn’t over the hill.