Jake Paul Teases Nate Diaz as Next Fight After Tommy Fury Bout

Jake Paul believes that once he gets past Sunday's fight against Tommy Fury, his next opponent will be former UFC star Nate Diaz.

Appearing on The MMA Hour (h/t Anton Tabuena of BloodyElbow.com), Paul said the following about potentially locking horns with Diaz:

"I think [Nate Diaz's team is] ready. I'm getting through Sunday and we're gonna line that one up ASAP. I think that's next. Probably mid-year, maybe sometime summer.

"I think that's what the fans want, and that's who I want. There's been a lot of back and forth, we've said our stuff, but it's time to get down to business."

While Paul vs. Diaz would likely be a major draw in the world of combat sports, Paul must first contend with arguably the toughest challenge of his young boxing career to date in the form of Fury.

Although Paul is a perfect 6-0 in six professional bouts, he has faced only a YouTuber, a former NBA player and a few former MMA fighters thus far. Fury will be the first pro boxer he has fought.

It is unclear if the result of Paul's match against the younger half-brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury will have any bearing on a possible meeting with Diaz, but Paul undoubtedly has his sights set on the UFC stalwart.

Paul added that he would like to face Diaz in both a boxing match and MMA fight, but noted he isn't certain if Diaz is open to that: "I want to do one fight boxing, one fight MMA, but I'm not sure if Nate's team is like fully aligned on that yet. Or I don't know if they realize how serious I am about that. I think they thought I was just doing it for hype, but I'm dead ass."

Diaz, 37, has been a professional MMA fighter since 2004, and he first entered into UFC in 2007 as part of The Ultimate Fighter.

In 34 career fights, Diaz is 21-13 with 12 wins by way of submission and five knockouts. His most notable win was a second-round submission of Conor McGregor in 2016.

Diaz never won an official title in UFC, but he went at it with some of the biggest names in the sport, including McGregor, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, Benson Henderson, Rafael dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis and Jorge Masvidal.

The final fight on Diaz's UFC contract occurred at UFC 279 in September, and he went out on a high note by beating Tony Ferguson via fourth-round submission.

Diaz was always a fan favorite during his UFC career due to his outspoken personality and penchant for putting on entertaining fights, seemingly making him a perfect fit for the world of boxing and for an opponent to Paul.