Jake Paul‘s pre-fight weigh-in with Nate Diaz was pleasantly routine on Friday in Dallas, after their respective camps brawled at Thursday’s press conference.
Paul (6-1), coming off his first career loss to Tommy Fury, came in at 185 pounds, while Diaz weighed about the same, 184.9, which is considerably higher than his usual in mixed-martial arts.
The two hated rivals went face to face without incident in front of few thousand fans, most of whom appeared to be supporting Diaz.
‘Shoutout to everybody for the love and support,’ Diaz said to a round of applause. ‘And no matter how the fight goes, don’t forget, this motherf***er can’t really fight.’
Paul, who is still searching for legitimacy in his brief boxing career, responded in kind: ‘Tomorrow I’m dog walking that b****! I’m putting him on a leash and I’m sending him back to the cage!’
Jake Paul (left) and Nate Diaz exchanged trash-talk Friday as they weighed in in Dallas
Paul said he would ‘dog walk’ his opponent Diaz and called the UFC star a ‘b****’
Diaz also spoke ill of Paul, saying that the 26-year-old ‘can’t fight’ ahead of their Dallas bout
The weigh-in was pleasantly routine, but there were still some shenanigans between the pair
He also treated the hostile, booing crowd to some of his famed childishness.
‘Boo if you’re a virgin,’ he yelled at Diaz supporters. ‘What? You’re virgins?’
The sophomoric show was the latest chapter in what has been a difficult promotional tour.
The palpable tensions between the two camps boiled over at Thursday’s press conference with both fighters’ body guards exchanging blows in an on-stage brawl. Diaz’s camp later blamed Paul’s security for the incident, while Paul insisted it was one of Diaz’s guards who threw the first punch.
‘Nate’s team has emailed my team trying to claim assault after his team swung first,’ the former YouTuber tweeted. ‘Apparently the guy who swung first is at the hospital getting stitches. Hilarious these fake gangsters acting like this!’
Diaz and Paul were’t involved in the skirmish, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy with each other.
In typical pre-fight fashion, Paul insulted Diaz for being a ‘bully,’ adding that the former UFC star is ‘always high.’
‘Like, what kind of example is that to set to everyone, just smoking all the f****** time?’ Paul asked Thursday. ‘I don’t like these things about him. And someone has to bully the bully, and that’s what I’m going to do on Saturday.’
Paul, a former YouTube star, is 6-1 as a boxer after losing to Tommy Fury in February
Diaz is known for his MMA capabilities and has suggested he’ll return to UFC soon
But there’s another reason for Paul’s displeasure: Diaz’s lackluster promotional efforts.
The 38-year-old first-time boxer has been tardy for media availability, and when he has spoken to the media, Diaz has seemed less than enthusiastic.
‘I don’t need to be going begging people to watch,’ Diaz told ESPN. ‘Don’t watch.’
Paul, meanwhile, had grown tired of being the only boxer showing enthusiasm for Saturday’s bout.
‘He’s not a professional like I am,’ Paul told ESPN. ‘That’s why he needs me to make his fights.’
But Diaz obviously has another revenue stream in MMA, and has said he’ll ‘probably’ return to UFC in the near future.
Paul has offered to fight Diaz in the cage, but it sounds as though Diaz isn’t interested. Speaking with MMA Hour, Diaz said he ‘don’t fight for’ the PFL, Paul’s MMA outfit.
‘If we do something, we’re going to do something real,’ Diaz said. ‘Co-promotion, if anything.’
Co-promotion would be a new twist in the Paul-Diaz rivalry, but don’t expect any MMA partnership or a boxing rematch anytime soon.
Paul appears to flash a middle finger during the weigh-in on Friday in Dallas, Texas
Diaz has lagged behind Paul in his promotion of the fight, showing up late to media availability
Both Paul and Diaz have publicly spoken about their desire to fight Conor McGregor next
McGregor and Diaz split a pair of fights in 2016, and the Irishman has teased a third
Rather, both fighters appear to be trying to leverage Saturday’s matchup into a lucrative bout with Conor McGregor in 2024, when the UFC legend will likely make his long-awaited return to the cage.
Both he and Diaz have expressed an interest in a third bout after splitting their first two in 2016. In a deleted tweet, McGregor said ‘regardless of that nonsense match’ on Saturday in Dallas, ‘me and Nate will be completing the trilogy.’
But Paul has his own designs on McGregor, and they don’t involve an octagon. Instead, Paul hopes to meet McGregor in the ring, where the Irishman is 0-1.
Of course, that one lackluster loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017 earned McGregor $130 million, so Paul is understandably motivated to book him for a boxing match.
‘I want Conor next after that,’ Paul told reporters at a May press conference. ‘It’s inevitable.’
But for either Paul or Diaz to book a cash cow like McGregor, they’ll need to put on a show Saturday at the American Airlines Center.
And the best way to do that is to move beyond the childish theatrics.
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