Over the last few months, the PFL has been in the news for making a lot of big moves. The MMA promotion based out of the United States has made major signings, such as Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul over the last few months. To add to that, earlier today, PFL announced that they would be acquiring rival MMA promotion Bellator MMA. This will create a behemoth of an MMA organization to compete with the UFC.
Now that the PFL has an increased pool of resources to play with, it has its eyes set on big fights that will draw a lot of eyeballs. One such fight happens to involve former UFC veteran Nate Diaz.
For some time now, the PFL has been trying to secure a fight between Nate Diaz and Jake Paul in MMA. However, that has not happened. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Donn Davis of PFL shared a new and improved offer for Nate Diaz to take on Jake Paul. He said,
“Nate will do it when he wants to do it. I am just trying to create a canvas that we’re open for business. It is like the old Motel 6 we’ll leave the light on. So I just want to leave the light on and I want to say, here’s $15 million, here’s Jake. We have all the infrastructure at PFL and we’re easy to work with. I said $10-$15 million, well I am just letting him know the range is there. There is a higher end of the range and there is a lower end of the range.”
In an unrelated post, Paul continued his attack on Nate Diaz by sharing a picture of him in MMA gear. The caption said,
“I can’t wait to get in the cage and axe kick this fool. Nate Diaz stop making excuses. 2024.”
I can’t wait to get in the cage and axe kick this fool. Nate Diaz stop making excuses. 2024. pic.twitter.com/PICjAuNe9F
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) November 20, 2023
Why is the Nate Diaz vs Jake Paul fight so important to the PFL? Let’s take a closer look.
Nate Diaz vs Jake Paul the fight to make for the PFL?
Earlier this year, Nate Diaz took on Jake Paul in a boxing match. Diaz came up short against the younger Paul brother in the fight. However, in the post-fight interview, both men agreed to a rematch in MMA.
Unfortunately, this did not work out. Paul and his side accused Nate Daiz of asking for too much money to try and wiggle his way out of the fight. Diaz, on the other hand, stated multiple times on Twitter that he was ready to fight Jake Paul and that he did not make any such demands.
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If the PFL wants to mount a serious challenge against the UFC, it needs a few big names and big fights. Securing an MMA fight between Diaz and Paul is a step in the right direction.
Previously, the offer on the table for Nate Diaz was $10 million. It has now been bumped up by $5 million. It will be interesting to see if this fight eventually does take place. If it does, it will surely bring a lot of attention to the promotion.
