When Nate Diaz opted to turn down a lucrative deal to remain in the UFC in favor of becoming a free agent it was widely believed that the main reason was a desire to take a money-spinning boxing match against one of the Paul brothers, but it seems the fight is proving to be harder to put together than expected.
That’s the word according to Logan Paul, who has claimed that Diaz is trying to duck him despite the potential for the fight to be a big draw on pay-per-view.
“I think he’s running. This guy, I think he’s ducking,” Paul told BT Sport. “We have the sweetest deal for him and he knows the type of numbers I bring in. I’m not a quarter of a million [pay-per-view buys] type of fighter, you’re going to get 750,000 [to a] million buys, and I’m an 0-1 YouTuber. Seems like an easy fight on paper.
“It’s Nate Diaz.”
The 27-year-old Paul isn’t willing to rule out the possibility that the fight could still take place, but as things stand he doesn’t understand why Diaz hasn’t signed up.
“I don’t even care anymore. I thought I had something locked in, but apparently he said the fight was off. Like, why? Why? So he could fight someone else? For what purpose? To get less buys, and maybe an easier fight? I don’t get it.
“As far as I know, it’s not dead because we had to f****** offer him more money. It’s like we’re baiting this guy into fighting me. It’s hard for me to get a fight because either you’re not worth my time and energy, or you’re not going to sell pay-per-views. I’ll do it, but I need a dance partner. And I don’t need a tune-up fight, give me the real dogs. Nate Diaz is a dog. I was looking forward to that fight, then I got a call the other day and they said they didn’t want to do it. It was almost done. I don’t know.”
It’s also worth noting that Conor McGregor recently claimed that Diaz had actually been in negotiations to be his next opponent and appear opposite him on The Ultimate Fighter, but a day or two before the announcement his opponent suddenly switched to being Michael Chandler instead for reasons that have never been made public.
