Donn Davis, the founder of the PFL, has accused Nate Diaz of ducking Jake Paul in an MMA bout.
The comments arrived in the aftermath of the duo’s boxing bout on August 5th, 2023. During the course of that process, Paul beat Diaz via a unanimous decision after sending the MMA fighter to the canvas in the fifth round. In the aftermath, Paul expressed his desire to run things back in MMA by offering Diaz $10 million to fight under the PFL banner. The offer was ultimately turned down as Diaz sought to have a boxing match again before considering an MMA fight. And yet, Davis has accused Diaz of trying to avoid Paul.
“If we could ever put together Jake vs. Nate, if Nate would stop weaseling out and complaining about that MMA fight with Jake. Something like that to put the mind of Jake Paul creatively, against the technology available, wow! It’s not just the spectacle of the circle…I respect Nate, he’s a man’s man, he said I’ll do it in the PFL SmartCage, and now he’s hiding behind a rock… $10-15 million, biggest payday of his life. He gets beat by Jake, and [now] he’s hiding behind a rock,” Davis stated
Nevertheless, there could be several reasons for Diaz not taking the fight. The MMA fighter has expressed his desire to come back to the UFC at some point in the future. Therefore, fighting under the PFL may hinder that in some regard. Meanwhile, Diaz has not fought in MMA for over a year since his win over Tony Ferguson in 2022. With that being said, there are plenty of hurdles that need to be overcome before a bout is considered.