Absolute chaos erupts at Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz press conference

Ahead of their Saturday night clash, the teams of Jake Paul and Nate Diaz could not keep themselves contained at the press conference held a couple hours ago. The incident occurred during the face off portion and as the two were jawing at each other, their teams decided to get in on the action. No one from either side sustained injuries but it’s clear that tensions are running high.

Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz presser gets heated

Paul and Diaz will finally get their chance to exchange leather Saturday night in Dallas, TX after a few months of lackluster interviews and Jake making complaints toward Nate for not participating in the marketing of the fight. It should be noted that interest in this contest isn’t as high as Paul’s previous bouts, and that most likely stems from few factors:

• Jake’s recent loss to Tommy Fury—his first pro loss
• Nate’s advancing age and notable decline before he left the UFC
• Interest waning in crossover boxing/celebrity boxing

Critiques

Adding to the growing list of reasons for concern is one of Nate Diaz’ sparring partners stating that “boxing is not for him.” That’s right, Olympic medalist Esquiva Falcao said he stands by the comments he made after he sparred Diaz in June.

“I had a crazy sparring with that guy. Great, great guy. In the beginning I thought he was tired. By the end, it looked like he was dying, you know? Because his fighting style is a crazy one. When you look at him, you go: ‘He’s tired already’, then we started sparring and in the second round Robert (Falcao’s coach) told me that he was already tired. So he told me to take it easy, keep it steady so he can go for at least 10 rounds.”

“I took it down a notch and we were just boxing, you know?” Falcao said. “We ended up going for 12 rounds, even though he was tired. He was landing shots and eating a lot of shots, too. It’s bad. He is heavy now, he’s overweight He must weigh about 220 pounds now or more. So the only big guy here at the gym is me. So I ended up having spar him. I enjoyed doing it, though.”

Falcao told MMA Fighting the following in a brand new interview:

“Nate Diaz has bad boxing — boxing is not for him,” Falcao said. “I praise him because he’s a warrior, a good fighter, a jiu-jitsu guy with a big name, but he’s not good in boxing. “I can’t lie, I can’t say his boxing is good, that he will become a world champion if he gives it a try. His boxing is bad. If he enters a boxing tournament, he’ll lose depending on the opponent he faces. But he has heart, he likes to brawl. But technique-wise, he’s bad.”

Both Nate Diaz and Jake Paul have been making the rounds sparring notable names in their preparation, and three years ago, Nate sparred WBC champion Regis Prograis in a session that Prograis says went pretty hard and that they “tried to take each other’s head off.” Prograis was interviewed by Ariel Helwani last month and described the session.

The clock is ticking down to fight time and the interest just doesn’t seem to be there, at least not yet. Perhaps we’ll get more buzz tomorrow and Saturday, but as things stand right now, the enthusiasm around this event is barely there, and it’s a decent card.

While you’re here

You know you can count on us for quick, consistent quality UFC coverage. Bloody Elbow is an independent, reader supported publication. Please subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with our best work and learn how you can support the site.

Stephie Haynes

Stephie Haynes has been covering MMA since 2005. She has also worked for MMA promotion Proelite and apparel brand TapouT. She hosted TapouT’s official radio show for four years before joining Bloody Elbow in 2012. She has interviewed everyone there is to interview in the fight game from from Dana White to Conor McGregor to Kimbo Slice, as well as mainstream TV, film and music stars including Norman Reedus, RZA and Anthony Bourdain. She has been producing the BE podcast network since 2017 and hosts four of its current shows.

More from the author