White is biting his tongue when it comes to any criticism he may have of the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight in August.
Jake Paul is set to box Nate Diaz on August 5th and we can tell Dana White is already sick of being asked about it.
While White has good relations with Logan Paul — even signing a big money deal to promote his Prime sports drink in the Octagon — Dana and Jake have never seen eye to eye. “The Problem Child” has built his combat sports career off boxing up over-the-hill ex-UFC fighters, and dozens of spicy back-and-forths with the UFC president didn’t hurt his visibility either.
These days, Dana White seems to have realized the less oxygen he gives Jake Paul, the better. Asked about Paul vs. Diaz at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference, White sat stone faced for a few moments as members of the press laughed at his obvious annoyance over the topic.
“I don’t want to s— on other people’s fights, like Oscar De La Weirdo,” he said finally. “But … yeah, nah, I don’t want to talk about the fight. It just … there’s no … first of all, neither of these guys is my guy, there’s just no need for me to comment on it or whatever. I wish ‘em the best, I hope they make a zillion dollars.”
For some reason, that last bit sounded a bit sarcastic to us, but who knows.
White was also asked about an interesting quote from the Diaz vs. Paul press release where Nate said he wanted to return to the UFC and win ‘his belts.’
“We love Nate,” White said before tamping down on expectations. “I don’t know … we’ll see.”
While we’re sure the UFC would love to have Diaz back in the UFC, it’s a real question as to whether they could put together an offer that would satisfy the Stockton fighter. Especially after he gets a taste of the money he can make outside the UFC. If Paul vs. Diaz sells well (and there’s no reason to imagine it won’t), Nate could hit eight figures for one night of work.
White also must be wondering what will happen to Diaz’s popularity should he lose. As good as he is, he’s an MMA fighter first and foremost. He’s also a natural 155 pound fighter competing against Paul, who cuts down to 185. Bookies certainly aren’t expecting Nate to cut through Paul … they have Jake at -240 to Diaz at +180.
So there’s plenty of questions that need to be answered before we’ll know if Nate Diaz will end up back in the UFC. Just don’t ask them to Dana White during press conferences, based on his sour response this time around.