Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz: B/R Staff Predictions
It's a grudge match featuring a lot of bad blood and the intrigue to match it.
Nate Diaz switches to boxing gloves for the first time in his career to take on Jake Paul in a fight with more than just the boxing world tuning in.
How will one of UFC's most popular stars fair in the boxing ring compared to the Octagon? Will Paul recover from his recent loss to Tommy Fury? And what happens next for both men?
The B/R Combat Sports Staff got together to predict the winner of Saturday's fight in Dallas.
Disagree with them? Share your thoughts in the comments section of the app.
Jake Paul Will Stop Nate Diaz
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I love watching Jake Paul's fights. In fact, I love the whole influencer boxing trend. I think it's fun. The key is to not take it too seriously.
I'll be watching Saturday's fight with quite a bit of anticipation, due in large part to the fact that I don't know who's going to win. It's difficult to make predictions for legitimate bouts. When you're talking about a fight between two amateurs, it's even more challenging, because we have so little information on those involved. There's just not a lot of tape to study.
Based on the information available, I've got to give the edge to Paul. He's a lot younger, he's taken a lot less damage, he's a lot bigger, and he hits a lot harder. In a fight between two inexperienced boxers, those things are probably going to matter quite a bit.
However, Diaz was a pretty effective boxer in MMA. In fact, his boxing was probably his best attribute, other than his jiu-jitsu and cardio. There's definitely a chance his boxing will translate seamlessly into the ring, and that he'll light Paul up and wear him out en route to a late stoppage. This seems particularly plausible after Tommy Fury picked Paul apart earlier this year.
Still, the more likely outcome is that, after taking a round or two to get comfortable and see what Diaz offers in the way of power, Paul cranks up the offense and batters his smaller, older opponent to a stoppage that is going to make a lot of UFC fans very unhappy.
Prediction: Paul by TKO, Rd. 7
Tom Taylor
Expect a Jake Paul Knockout
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Love him if you can. Loathe him if you must.
But you've got to respect Jake Paul as a matchmaker.
The social media agitator has said all the right things while professing his love for boxing and insisting he's in it for the long haul, while simultaneously seeking out and signing up precisely the sort of opponents who'll strike the proper balance of name recognition and competitive irrelevance.
He kicked off with a fellow YouTuber and a former NBA player before graduating to ex-UFC stars familiar enough to generate interest, but either completely out of their element when limited to punches (Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley)—or old enough to be a 25-year-old's father (Anderson Silva).
The results were predictable: Six fights, six wins, four KOs.
Perhaps emboldened by a pristine start, the 26-year-old upped the ante with a lunge toward Tommy Fury—who'd surged to 7-0 against his own band of no-hopers, though his most significant boxing achievement was being born via the same father as heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The proximity to authentic ring greatness clearly helped, and Fury survived a late scare to win seven of eight rounds on two of three scorecards and knock his crestfallen foe from the unbeaten ranks and all the way back to the persona-restoring drawing board.
Too smart to chase a Fury rematch or engage another boxer with even a middling resume, Paul dipped back into the Octagonal pool and tossed a career lifeline to Nate Diaz—who'd played out his string with Dana White with an eye toward scoring a non-traditional payday.
Call it a smashing success for both.
Diaz gets a spotlight turn in the pay-per-view headliner spotlight, and Paul gets to feast on a wildly popular cage fighter who's as rough and rugged as they come but not nearly as proficient with his fists as he is with his jiu-jitsu and his mouth—which renders him little more than a loud punching bag.
Bottom line: Paul wins. Wins easily, in fact.
And it'll be a significant surprise if it even gets past the halfway point.
Prediction: Paul by TKO, Rd. 3
Lyle Fitzsimmons
Nate Diaz Is Tough, but Jake Paul Wins
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After witnessing great boxing exploits from Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue last week, we return to the sideshow that is a Jake Paul fight.
As much as we hate to admit it, though, whenever he fights, it's a draw. In the business of combat sports, that's what matters. And that leads us to Paul's latest endeavor, a bout with former UFC star Nate Diaz.
We know from his UFC exploits that Diaz is tough and unafraid to take punishment. Simply put, he can take a punch and will continue to move forward.
But this isn't the Octagon, this is a boxing ring.
If you're looking for a Diaz knockout in Saturday's fight, you're probably barking up the wrong tree. The 38-year-old recorded most of his victories via submission when he was in MMA, something that won't be in his arsenal against Paul.
Nate's cardio is legendary, but you also have to be able to defend and, frankly, hit the other guy in order to win a boxing match. This is a completely new situation for Diaz and his prospects for a victory are likely slim to none.
Meanwhile, Paul has actually boxed and shown surprising knockout power in previous fights.
It's a fun concept, but if we're breaking down who's actually going to win, there's only one choice.
Prediction: Paul by KO, Rd. 4
Lucky Ngamwajasat
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