Jake Paul told Nate Diaz ‘f***ed up’ world title contender in sparring

MMA fighter Chris Avila has shut down claims that Nate Diaz is struggling ahead of fighting YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul – and instead claimed the former UFC star ‘f***ed up’ a world title contender in sparring. It comes after allegations that surfaced following a sparring session with Olympic silver medal winner Esquiva Falcao.

In the video uploaded by the undefeated middleweight boxer, Falcao claimed that he wasn’t too impressed with Diaz’s boxing ability. After posing with Diaz on camera, he then said: “At first I thought he was tired, and in the end it looked like he was dying. His fighting style is crazy.

“You look at him and say, ‘Oh, he’s tired,’ and then we started sparring. [Coach] Robert [Garcia] told me in the second round, ‘He’s tired already, hold back a little bit and keep the rhythm so he does at least 10 rounds’.”

Falcao went on to claim that Diaz “is bad” and “overweight” ahead of his bout against Jake Paul. The video has since gone viral and has not gone down well with Daiz’s friend Avila – who has instead told Paul that his upcoming opponent got the upper hand.

Speaking to The MMA Hour, Avila has hit back at Falcao’s recollection of the events. “Bro, that guy got f***ed up,” he said. “Yeah, we just got back — we were out in LA and we went to a boxing gym, this guy’s like a silver medalist out of Brazil and whatever. He’s 30-0, he’s fighting for a world title next week. And then boxers are like that — they’re pretty dumb. They’re passive. They’re really passive.

“So Nate sparred this guy, did 12 rounds. Bro, he got f***** up. He lost every round, then afterward he immediately goes to the coach, ‘Oh, I’m cutting weight, that’s why I didn’t look too good.’ And then you see on his [Instagram] story, it’s in Portuguese so we had somebody translate — and he was talking sh!t.

“The next day we went back and the coach was like, ‘Yo, he wants to spar you.’ So I sparred him, and then he lost every round again — and he still said goes and talks some more shit in Portuguese. But we didn’t know until after all the sparring. Anyways, to that guy, f*** that guy too.”

The fight against Jake Paul will be Diaz’s first since September 2022. The 38-year-old managed a win via submission against fellow American fighter Tony Ferguson.

The bout would be Diaz’s last under the UFC after opting not to re-sign and become a free agent. Paul on the other hand last fought earlier in 2023 against Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia.

Paul would go on to lose via split decision and would be his only professional defeat to date. The duo are set to step into the ring on August 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.