Jake Paul wants to fight Nate Diaz in an MMA bout for his professional debut, and UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes that Paul has the advantage and will win the fight.
Jake Paul has his sights set on taking on Nate Diaz for his debut in professional MMA. The fight could reportedly go down by the end of 2024. The PFL founder, Donn Davis, has even offered to pay Diaz a whopping $15 million purse to make the fight happen. UFC welterweight Matt Brown is of the opinion that Diaz should accept that offer, even though he believes that Paul will come out on top in the match. “Jake Paul, I’m going to pick him to win,” Brown said.
Despite oddsmakers opening with Diaz as a 12-to-1 favorite to beat Paul in MMA, Brown believes that Paul holds several advantages in the matchup. One of these is that he is “way, way undersized” and predicts that the fight will stay on the feet. Brown also thinks that Diaz’s style, which primarily relies on his hands, will not be as effective in an MMA fight. He stated, “Now he can do his jiu-jitsu game. It’s just a bad matchup.”
Diaz’s deadly submission arsenal could prove to be a problem for Paul in an MMA fight, but Brown says “I think with the size and the athleticism, jiu-jitsu really isn’t that hard to beat.” He also believes that Paul’s big fight experience in boxing has prepared him well for the pressure of a match against someone like Diaz in the cage. As Brown put it, “We’ve seen in all of his fights, [Paul] doesn’t come in unprepared physically or mentally. He is a performer.”
Brown’s prediction is that Paul will win the fight but not in a shutout, saying “he just outboxes [Diaz] by decision”, although he admits that he hopes Diaz will emerge victorious and that he would “1,000 percent root for him.” Despite his prediction, he finds the potential fight more interesting than a boxing match.