When renowned MMA fighter Nate Diaz steps in the ring for his first ever pro boxing match this weekend, he’ll be doing it against Jake Paul. But his opponent was close to being Jake’s brother, part-time WWE star Logan Paul.
That revelation, as well as a somewhat surprising claim about why a Logan Paul fight never came together, was part of Diaz’s interview with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi that published this week. As he tells it, the fight was close to being made until WWE forced its way into the picture.
“The WWE came in and then they wanted to take over the whole thing,” Diaz said to Raimondi. “And I’m like, ‘I just got out of the UFC, why am I going to sign with WWE?’ I fight for real. I’m not gonna be doing a real fight on a WWE card or no funny s— like that.”
Diaz appears to be insinuating that if WWE were part of the promotion, he’d be required to appear on its programming. That would make some sense, as there’s no reason the company wouldn’t want to use its platforms to sell a Diaz-Logan Paul fight to people who wouldn’t normally watch boxing.
And as Raimondi notes, WWE had some interest in entering the boxing space as of late 2022, with then-co-CEO Stephanie McMahon saying as much during the Wells Fargo TMT Summit.
Logan Paul isn’t buying it, at least publicly, as he told ESPN he felt it was an excuse Diaz was making to avoid taking “the harder fight” between him and Jake. WWE didn’t comment on the situation and probably won’t, rendering the entire thing a fascinating “what if” in the already unpredictable world of combat sports circa 2023.
Unless, of course, Diaz and Logan Paul really do end up fighting each other down the road, which certainly can’t be ruled out at this point.