UFC president Dana White gives green light for Nate Diaz to fight Jake Paul

YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul has been calling out Diaz for a long time, but the MMA star has been locked into his UFC contract for the last year where he has one fight left

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UFC boss Dana White has admitted that a fight between Nate Diaz and Jake Paul would “make sense” amid their contract dispute.

Diaz has been tipped as a future opponent for Paul, and according to Mirror Fighting sources was being set up as the rival for his ring return this summer. But he has one fight left on his deal with the UFC, and has been unable to get that bout through in time to move over to boxing and face the YouTuber.

Paul last fought in December, when he knocked out former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, and had been eyeing up a meeting with Diaz. At the time, it appeared that the one-time lightweight title challenger would be facing Vicente Luque in January, but the fight fell through and he has been unable to arrange a final bout.

But White now appears open to the idea of allowing Diaz to face Paul, admitting in an interview with The Mac Life that a fight between the pair makes sense. He allowed Ben Askren, who was under UFC contract despite retiring a year prior, to take on the YouTuber in April 2021, but has since been less receptive to such match-ups.

“I like Nate,” White said. “But let’s be honest, Nate’s won one fight in the last five or six years. When these guys get into these positions, you’ve got guys that have been with us for a long time, that we respect, that we care about.

“You’ve got [Donald] Cerrone or Anthony Pettis before he left, and you’ve got Nate Diaz. And Nick Diaz [Nate’s brother] is still under contract with us, so you want to be fair to everybody, you want to do the right things or whatever.

“Nate Diaz isn’t going to come in and fight Kamaru Usman, so listen, we’re trying to do the best we can. We’re trying not to s*** on anybody and disrespect anybody, but it’s not like we’re talking about Kamaru Usman here. We’re talking about Nate Diaz.

“Nate’s won one fight in five years, so we’re trying to figure this thing out with him. He probably should go on and fight Jake Paul. That’s a fight that makes sense.”

Paul is next out on August 6 at Madison Square Garden in a co-headline event with Amanda Serrano. But with just weeks to go until the fight, it seems unlikely that Diaz will make it through in time to be the opponent.

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The UFC star, best known for his two 2016 fights with Conor McGregor, was in attendance at Paul’s last fight where he was cornering pal Chris Avila on the undercard. Avila was facing Paul’s sparring partner and friend Anthony Taylor, and it appeared that a Team Paul vs Team Diaz feud was being set up.

Mirror Fighting sources had indicated at the time that there were tentative plans in place within the Paul camp to put together a massive Paul vs Diaz event. Jake would fight Nate and their older brothers Logan and Nick would also square up on the initially planned card.

But Nick is also tied into the UFC for one more fight after losing his comeback fight to Robbie Lawler last year. For Paul’s part, he has pushed to make the fight happen, but appears unlikely to get it next.

He offered to fight Diaz in the UFC octagon for free, responding to White in a tweet saying: “Dana – I’m happy to be Nate’s last fight in UFC. You know the terms: pay fighters more and give them healthcare. Sweetener: I will fight for free.”