After an unscheduled, impromptu encounter with a Logan Paul lookalike in New Orleans which earned Nate Diaz a warrant for his arrest final month, the previous UFC fighter got here face-to-face with a bona fide member of the Paul clan in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday.
TheMacLife’s cameras had been readily available to seize the primary staredown between the 2 boxers who’re set to conflict in August in what might be Diaz’s skilled debut within the sport. Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, might be trying to overcome his first profession defeat after he was outpointed in a cut up choice by Tommy Fury in February in Saudi Arabia.
Previous to that, Paul had defeated well-regarded combined martial arts fighters within the boxing ring together with Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva.
The primary press convention between the 2 was a principally skilled affair, save for a second the place Paul appeared to fireplace considered one of his staff who addressed Diaz on the microphone by saying that the wished to field Nick Diaz on the undercard of the August occasion.
Explaining his motivations to tackle Paul, Diaz stated: “My plan in preventing is to at all times battle the largest names, and the perfect fighters there are. I’ve been attempting to get out of the UFC for a very long time, as a result of I knew what I used to be value, what fighters are value and what I ought to do. It was an extended highway, however once I was on the way in which out, [Jake Paul] was doing the largest and the perfect issues outdoors in preventing and for preventing, and I used to be glad I had a worthy opponent to make an assault on as quickly as I acquired out.”
Diaz, who’s 38, added that he believes he might have spent nearly all of his profession in skilled boxing “however a cage battle got here up first.”
“I might have been a professional boxer once I was 18 years outdated however a cage battle got here up first so I used to be caught in a cage my entire profession,” he stated. “There have been occasions once I acquired locked in a contract immediately from the UFC. So I used to be already locked down from the start.
“I wished to get out and do boxing, however it was contract after contract and sh*t. It was a series response the entire time. I used to be simply locked in longer and longer. I’ve been going to boxing gyms since I’m 15 years outdated, sparring professional boxers, and I don’t assume I’ve ever acquired my ass whipped in a boxing gymnasium and never come again and been the final man to win the rounds. I’ve at all times wished to field. Like I stated, I really feel like I used to be a professional boxer the entire time.”
