Dana White Urges Nate Diaz To Fight Jake Paul Amid UFC Contract Dispute

UFC president, Dana White has urged veteran welterweight contender, Nate Diaz to ship up and score himself a professional boxing match against undefeated YouTuber, Jake Paul – amid a lengthy, ongoing contract dispute between Diaz and the promotion.

Diaz, who is currently without a victory since an August 2019 return against former lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis – has been sidelined from the Octagon since June of last year.

Featuring on the main card of UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona – Diaz suffered his second straight loss in the form of a unanimous decision defeat against Leon Edwards – who is scheduled to headline UFC 278 in August against champion, Kamaru Usman.

In the time since, however, Stockton veteran, Diaz has campaigned for a series of projected Octagon returns, including most notably, a welterweight showdown against former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier – who has also welcomed a matchup against the Californian. 

At the time of publication, however, Diaz, who retains just a single fight on his current UFC contract, has yet to be matched by the organization, amid other links to a potential boxing cross over against Paul in the future. 

Dana White urges Nate Diaz to land himself a fight with Jake Paul

And according to White, who remains coy on who Diaz will fight next in his final contract fight, the Cesar Gracie staple should likely land himself a lucrative outing against the polarizing, Paul next.

“I mean, I like Nate (Diaz),” Dana White told The Mac Life reporter, Oscar Willis, during a recent interview. “Let’s be honest, Nate’s won one fight in the last five or six years. You know? 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 know, you’ve got (Donald) Cerrone and Anthony Pettis before he left, and you’ve got Nate Diaz – and Nick Diaz 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,” Dana White said. “We’re trying not to sh*t 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.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)