Press Release: By DAZN And Most Valuable Promotions - DALLAS, Texas – May 9, 2023 – Today, international superstar Jake “The Problem Child” Paul and combat sports icon Nate Diaz came face to face for the first time since Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and Real Fight Inc. (Real Fight), announced the fight. Presented by Celsius Essential Energy Drinks, Paul vs. Diaz is set for an eight-round bout live from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX on August 5th, 2023. The event will be distributed globally by DAZN PPV. In the US and Canada in addition to DAZN PPV, Paul vs Diaz will be available on all major cable and satellite pay-per-view providers.
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| Credit:Alexis Contreras and Noah Red |
Amanda Serrano, one the greatest fighters of all time, will put all of her belts on the line and defend her undisputed title for the first time as she takes on Heather Hardy in the recently announced co-main event. Over 20,000 people have signed up for early access tickets which went on sale today, smashing the American Airlines Center presale record for tickets. All other tickets will go on sale Thursday, May 11th at 10am PT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET at https://www.ticketmaster.com/jake-paul-v-nate-diaz-dallas-06-08-2023/event/0C005EA581B12549
In the press conference hosted by renowned combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani, Paul and Diaz had plenty to say about their legacies, each other, their upcoming fight, and what’s next for them after August 5th.
Here is what Paul and Diaz shared:
Jake Paul
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| Credit: Alexis Contreras and Noah Red |
On why Nate Diaz: “Nate Diaz was always the plan after Tommy. That was what I said. Even in the build-up to Tommy, I was like it's Nate Diaz after Tommy Fury. So that was always the plan… This is a big fight. This is a fight that I've wanted for a long time. [Nate] got out of his UFC contract and this is probably the biggest fight of the year, only topping me versus Tommy. I want to make big events, big fights happen and strike while the iron's hot. He was a free agent. Let's run it. Make it happen. Settle the shit talk. I'm ready for war. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me out, Dallas. I love y'all and I'm going to do what Conor McGregor couldn't do, and I'm gonna knock this man out.” |
On if it’s surreal to face Nate Diaz, and being called delusional to want to: “Look, that's what people have said my whole, entire career. So I'm used to it. I'm used to the non-believers, and I've always said exactly what I'm gonna do and then I've done it. And so, yeah, we're finally here. I predicted the future but it is surreal, you know, and I had to put in the work to get here. And I'm just excited to be here putting on massive events. This is just the start of what I'm going to accomplish. Everything else I've said still holds true as well. And this is proof of that.”
On impression of Nate Diaz: “I was sitting on the couch at my dad's house in Ohio [when] I was probably 14 years old, and we were watching the UFC event and his fight came on, and I saw Nate Diaz. I had a crush on Cameron Diaz at the time and I asked my dad if that was her brother and he said, no, but that's so the first Nate Diaz fight that I saw. Obviously, he's a legend in the game and I'm excited to be fighting him. Twelve years later, you know, from the couch in Ohio to here in Dallas, Texas.”
On the Fury vs. Paul result: “I'm filled with vengeance, ambition, hunger, and drive more than ever before. I have a lot to prove, two chips on each shoulder, and it's do-or-die for me. Truly, this fight is do-or-die. I have to leave it all on the line and I think it's the same for Nate Diaz. You know, he's leaving the UFC on a win. He wants to come into this game, make a bunch of money, knock out the YouTuber kid then go back and finish his legacy off. And that's why this is such an amazing fight. But I just lost, and if he beats me, then where does that leave me? So, it's two people who can't lose, who don't want to lose, who never back down, who keep on fighting. And that's why this is war and I'm ready for war.”
On coming back from a loss: “This is the only thing I'm focused on and I'm filled with that hunger, and I have more conviction now than ever of what I'm gonna do in this sport. And when you're doing a lot of fights, back-to-back-to-back, I'm knocking everyone out, putting them on their ass, making tens of millions of dollars, you can lose that hunger. That loss re-instilled that in me and I'm excited to come back. I said don't judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses. So, I'm gonna come back. I've been working in silence. I promise you that. I promise you I know what I'm capable of, and this is going to be the best version of Jake Paul that you're ever going to see in the ring.”
“[The loss] made me reevaluate everything. Look at myself, my coaches, the people around me, everything. And I think that's good to do in life. It was sort of this reset and this opportunity to look into the mirror, and I learned more about myself in the loss than I have in any of the wins. It's made me stronger – mentally, in life, and in everything that I'm doing – and it's almost like a relief in a sense, because I never wanted to lose. But now that it's out of the way, I can sort of be free and so in many ways it's very, very freeing. I think it'll help me fight being more calm and focused. I brought in a bunch of new people into the team, and I'm excited to show people my new skill set on August 5th.”
On people doubting him: “I like people to doubt me and I'm going to do what they couldn't do, quite literally.”
“It makes me feel sorry for them because they're not doing it, and it's easy to talk from the couch. It's easy to be a critic. It's easy to have an opinion when you've never gotten the ring. That's why I respect anyone who gets into the ring, win or lose, especially if you lose and then come back. That's how you know if they're a true, real fighter. So I welcome the critics. I love it. I let it fuel me. That's what has brought me here today. Quite literally it’s the hate and the people booing me and the people doubting me. I sat in front of you at these press conferences dozens of times now and said exactly what I'm going to do. I was laughed at since the very first fight in my career when I said I would be here on the biggest stages. I've just continued to prove people wrong, continued to put it on the line, continued to never back down. I put every single one of my opponents on the canvas. Win or lose, they've all gone down. I'm a real dog and I know what I'm capable of, and that's why when these corny people try to say shit, I just laugh at them. Look where I'm at, after three years. Are you kidding me? And not only that, I'm bringing people up with me, young prospects. We just launched Most Valuable Prospects – Amanda Serrano, Ashton Sylvie, all of these people. We have a new MVP signing, that when we announce it, y'all are going to shit your pants. So, I'm just getting warmed up in this game and I'm already, I'm already a statue in the game. I'm here forever. Even if I lose, guess what? Y'all are still going to come back in tune in.”
On taking on classically trained boxers and what’s ahead: “Nate’s classically trained in boxing. Like he just said, he's been in the gym since he was 15 years old. You know sparring guys like Andre Ward, Regis Prograis….. I want to throw big events. Yes. But at the same time, I'm taking on fights to challenge myself and doing things that people would do… taking on hard opponents. I'm not just taking on these guys who are Journeymen who have these terrible records. I'm going to fight the biggest names in the sport and the best competition, and I'm just getting started.”
“I'm getting more and more experience under my belt with each fight. This will be my eighth fight and I'm just getting better and better in the gym. I spar against world champions, you know, and train with world champions all the time. So plan on that, in the future 100%, but taking it one fight at a time.”
On Hall of Fame potential: “I've done more for the sport than any boxers in current history. What has Floyd Mayweather done for women's boxing? The list goes on. I've changed the whole entire game. Brought a new 70 million followers to the sport, put on bigger pay-per-views than some of these Hall of Fame guys.... So you want to talk about Hall of Famers, you want to talk about resume? Yeah, I'm building it up. I just got started in this game. This is my eighth fight and I'm fighting Nate Diaz, one of the biggest MMA fighters in history.”
On Training Camp changes: “I've switched up pretty much the whole entire team and brought in new people who are going to hold me accountable for my mistakes that I make even in the gym, even down to the nutrition, strength, and conditioning coaches. All that has been switched. I believe I learned a lot from the last fight, and I'm just implementing those things into my training camp and not going to make the same mistakes. I brought in Shane [Mosely] and Theo Chambers as well as J’Leon [Love] on the team and I was talking with [them] after the fight and they all identified the same little mistake that I was making in the boxing ring that needed to be fixed, which would allow the rest of my mistakes that I was making to be corrected. Once they were on the same page, Shane was free and willing to come in and do this full-time. So we assembled The Avengers team and things have been great now. I feel like a whole completely different fighter already in just a short amount of time. We still have 88 days until the fight, so I'm excited to keep on working. This is going to be my best performance yet.”
On why boxing: “I'm a fighter through and through and I love the routine, the discipline of the sport, being an athlete. I fell in love with it and I caught the boxing bug. I feel like this is what I was put on Earth to do, and the sport saved me in many ways, from where I was at. I was going down the wrong path, in Los Angeles, chasing the wrong things. Involving myself with the wrong people. Boxing gave me the opportunity to step back from that to learn who I was, as a man and to build and grow and to focus on something other than doing, you know, the stupid little YouTube shit that I was doing back in the day because that's not truly who I was.”
On if there is a belt on the line: “Most valuable belt for sure. Let's put it on the line.”
On Dallas hosting the fight: “I love Texas. Always loved Texas, and this is where I did my first fan Meetup ever when I was 16 years old. It was awesome to bring it back here and to really put on a show because Texas obviously has crazy fight fans.”
On who is the face of boxing currently: “I would say Canelo's probably the face, Gervonta is the tits, and I'm the ass.”
On what keeps him motivated: “Legacy. Testing myself and challenging myself to become a world champion. That's my ultimate life goal right now. Since everything else in my life is set, I could retire and focus on my investments, my sports betting, come with all these other things that I do; acting, working on a movie, all this stuff. So just that passion and still knowing that I haven't done what I'm capable of in the sport yet and that I'm going to continue to get better and better and better until I can become a world champion. That's my goal, and that's what drives me.”
Nate Diaz Quotes
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| Credit: Alexis Contreras and Noah Red |
On Why Jake Paul: “Post UFC, my plan was always to fight the biggest names and the best fighters there are. I've been trying to get out of the UFC for a long time because I knew I knew that I would work. What fighters worked and what I should do. I have a long road but he was doing the biggest and the best things for fighting and in fighting and I was glad. I had a worthy opponent to make an attack on, as soon as I got out.”
On his opinion of Jake Paul: “He's doing a good job. He's been punished like he said. As far as the fighter, he's young, he's motivated. He's working hard. I can see that. I'm sure everybody can see that. That’s kind of motherfucker’s unstoppable. That’s why I wanted to fight Connor and the [reason] I took time off from my fights, when I was fighting was because I wanted top guy and they were trying to give me some fucking lame ass motherfucker. [I want to fight the] best of the best and I think you did a great job and [I want] motherfuckers know that I do a great job too.”
On his opinion of Paul fighting Fury: “No one won or lost. That's why I wanted to fight [Jake]. You know, I want to fight the guys who win but I don't think [either] lost the fight anyways. And I think that was a hard fight to take.”
On Real Fight Partnering with MVP: “I appreciate everything that I've done and had to go through, because [it] got me to the point where I understood and knew what I needed to do, what I wanted to happen, and what should happen. [...] I was watching, motivated the whole time, and it was just [a case of] time will tell, you know, [of] MVP [and] Real Fight coming together.”
On representing MMA vs. boxing: “I was being stereotyped as an MMA fighter. [...] I don't like being stereotyped as an MMA fighter. I'm a black belt in Jujitsu and I would have been a pro boxer when I was 18 years old, but a cage fight came up first. So I was stuck in a cage my whole career. And there were times when I got locked out and contracted right away, [...] so I was just locked in longer and longer. I've been going to boxing gyms since I was 15 years old. I'm a pro boxer and I don't think I've ever got my ass whupped in a boxing gym and not come back as the last guy to win when the round ends. So, I've always wanted to box and like I said, I’ve felt like a pro boxer the whole time. Every fight in MMA, I was training just like any boxer trains for a boxing match. [...] So yeah, I'm glad I get to come here and showcase my skills in boxing.”
On what’s next after Jake Paul: “I don’t plan on losing anybody, but no matter what happens, I'll be here, forever. I'll be fine. No, I'll be here. […] I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon […] I feel the same now as I did when I was 18, just with a lot of more experience and time under my belt, you know? And so the show for me is going on.”
On his professional fighting record: “I'm the best fighter ever, […] Everybody agrees with that. [Paul: You’ve got 15 losses.] But who did I fight? Top 10. I've been fighting top 10 guys the whole time. I probably fought five guys in my whole career that weren't top 10 when I wasn't top 10 either. […] What happened with Conor McGregor? How many rounds did I fight him? I fucking knocked his ass out in seven minutes. He got choked, because he was not trying to get hit no more, and he was smart and took the way out. That's the way to get out here. Take it the way he had to. Isn’t that the goal of the sport? Seven minutes.”
For more information, follow on Twitter via @JakePaul, @NateDiaz209, @MostVPromotions, @RealFightINC and @DAZNBoxing or on Instagram via @JakePaul, @NateDiaz209, @MostValuablePromotions, @realfightinc and @DAZNBoxing.
About Most Valuable Promotions (MVP)
Most Valuable Promotions was founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021. With the mission to provide more creative control to fighters, MVP works to identify, grow, and maximize return for its own events and talent partners. One year into its inception, MVP was nominated as one of the prestigious Sports Breakthroughs of the Year in 2022 by Sports Business Journal. MVP has produced Jake Paul’s last four global pay-per-view events, including the recent Paul vs. Fury match, which surpassed 800,000 Pay-per-view buys worldwide. The promotion company also signed one of the most decorated Hispanic athletes of all time, Amanda Serrano in its first year. Serrano and MVP made history in April of 2022 when Serrano went head to head with Katie Taylor, marking the first female fight to headline at Madison Square Garden, recently earning a nomination for Event of The Year by Sports Business Journal. Co-founder Nakisa Bidarian was an executive producer of the historic Triller Presents Mike Tyson v. Roy Jones Jr., which was the 8th most bought pay-per-view event in history.
About Real Fight, Inc.
Founded by mixed martial arts legend Nate Diaz, in 2022, Real Fight Inc. promotes exactly what the name suggests — the fights people want to see, featuring the realest fighters from all over the world. Since his departure from the UFC, Diaz is extending his business empire with a true all-around combat experience that will focus on boxing, MMA, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The inaugural event under the Real Fight, Inc. banner is set to take place on August 5, 2023, when Diaz makes his long-awaited professional boxing debut against Jake Paul at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
About Jake Paul
Paul (6-1, 4KO’s) will enter Paul v. Diaz having already collected an impressive amount of wins, including defeating one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time in Anderson Silva, where Paul won ESPNRingside’s 2022 Viral Moment of the Year by dropping Silva in the 8th round. Paul began his pro career in January 2020 with a TKO win against British YouTube star AnEsonGib and followed it up with a stunning knockout of former NBA star Nate Robinson in November 2020. “The Problem Child” then shocked the industry with a first-round KO of former MMA champion and Freddie Roach-trained Ben Askren in April 2021, followed by two wins over MMA legend Tyron Woodley, including a vicious sixth-round knockout which won him ESPNRingside’s 2021 Knockout of The Year. After a split-decision defeat against Fury, Paul is eager to get back in the ring and come out victorious with a seventh professional win against Diaz.
About Nate Diaz:
Throughout a career that spanned 16 years, no single fighter has captured the imagination of combat sports quite like Stockton, California’s finest Nate Diaz, nor has anybody embodied the spirit of what it means to be a fighter in the broader world. Diaz defines a generation with a raw blend of attitude, perseverance, conviction, and pure skill. His rivalry with Conor McGregor remains the biggest in MMA history, shattering box office and pay-per-view records across the board, while his fights with Anthony Pettis, Leon Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal transcended the cage. Nate scored 16 victories over the course of his career in the UFC, ending with a poetic finish of Tony Ferguson in his final fight in the promotion.
About DAZN:
DAZN is a leading digital sports platform in Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Japan, Canada, US and the UK. Its wide range of exclusive content includes top-flight football from the world’s most popular competitions – Bundesliga, English Premier League, J.League, LaLiga, Serie A, and the UEFA Champions League, in addition to the biggest sports from around the world - Formula 1, NFL, NBA, MotoGP and the UFC.
DAZN is the NFL’s global partner and, from the 2023 season, will be the only place for fans around the world to watch every NFL match through the NFL Game Pass International add-on subscription. DAZN is a global home for boxing and combat sports through its partnerships with Matchroom Boxing the Professional Fighters League, and a global home for Women’s Football with UEFA Women’s Champions League and Finetwork Liga F. DAZN is adding more and more sport to its platform to create a destination for sports fans.
DAZN is reimagining the way people enjoy sport. With a single, frictionless platform, sports fans can watch, bet, play, share, socialize, and buy tickets, NFTs and merchandise. Live and on-demand sports content, anywhere, in any language, on any device – only on DAZN.
DAZN is available on most connected devices including smart TVs, set-top boxes, streaming sticks, smartphones, tablets, PCs and game consoles, ensuring that fans have access to ground-breaking rights catalogue and slate of incredible content. In the UK and globally, DAZN can be accessed on Samsung, LG, Sony and Panasonic Smart TVs and on Games Consoles including PlayStation and Xbox. Subscribers also have access to DAZN on their Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Google Chromecast and Apple TV and can find the app on their iPhone, iPad, and android mobile devices. DAZN is available as an Amazon Channel on Amazon Prime TV and can be viewed on Channel 429 on Sky in the UK and Ireland.
DAZN is a global, privately-owned company with employees in over 25 countries. For more information on DAZN, our products, people, and performance, visit www.dazngroup.com.
About American Airlines Center:
Designed by architectural wizard David M. Schwarz and Dallas based HKS, Inc., American Airlines Center is considered one of the nation's top arenas. Since opening its doors in 2001, the Center has been setting the precedent for sporting and live entertainment events. Bringing in a wide variety of big name shows as well as being home of both the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, American Airlines Center consistently displays its unique versatility. Billboard Magazine named American Airlines Center the 6th busiest arena in the world in 2022.
Material Courtesy of DAZN and Most Valuable Promotions/Photos Courtesy of Alexis Contreras and Noah Red Used with permission.
For more information about DAZN including schedules, list of compatible streaming devices, platforms, Smart TVs, availability around the world, local start times in your area, and to subscribe please visit: www.DAZN.com.
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