Was Nate Diaz suffering a bigger injury than he let on leading up to his big boxing fight with YouTuber Jake Paul? Jackson says he was.
Nate Diaz may have been more injured than he let on coming into his boxing bout against Jake Paul.
Diaz and Paul fought back in August, with “The Problem Child” beating Diaz on the scorecards 98-91, 98-91 and 97-92. It was a pretty one-sided affair, although Nate did bring his usual grit and determination into the ring with him (watch the highlights here). That wasn’t enough to win him the fight, though.
Former PRIDE and UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was in attendance for the fights, and checked in with Diaz following the bout.
“It was a very entertaining fight, in my opinion,” Jackson said on his Jaxxon Podcast show. “I watched it as entertainment. You know I’m going for Nate, Nate’s always been one of the realest O.Gs. I’m going for him, but he just didn’t look like himself.”
“And then I went into the locker room later, I don’t know if he said this to the press, but he was injured. He had a pulled muscle in there. And I can tell, I said ‘Man, what’s wrong with you,’ because one of his pecs was smaller than the other. ‘Oh man, I got a f—ed up pinched nerve in my back.’”
Diaz had alluded to a slight shoulder injury he suffered while “trying to get bigger,” but this sounds more serious than that. Whatever it was, Nate admitted it forced his team to change tactics. He couldn’t fight long because he couldn’t jab, so he decided to “get inside and fight like a Mexican guy.”
Jackson said he was impressed Diaz didn’t bring up the injury more following the fight.
“I respect that because I got an excuse with all my loses,” he said with a laugh. “You lose respect when you talk excuses, but yeah I got excuses for all my losses.”
Jackson is preparing for a comeback of sorts in December: he plans on fighting former TUF 10 contestant Darrill Schoonover. “Rampage” was the coach on that season, and he tortured Schoonover the entire time, giving him the nickname “Titties.” For some reason, Quinton still feels like he has more business with Darrill, so they’ll compete on a UFL card to be announced later this year.
Until then, Jackson is making waves with his new series of interview shows with Jaxxon Podcasts. This latest week featured Tyron Woodley, while previous episodes included Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and Luke Rockhold.