Dan Hardy understands why Nate Diaz doesn’t want to rematch Jake Paul in MMA.
The former UFC welterweight contender is now the Head of Fighter Operations for PFL Europe, and very much looking forward to Jake Paul’s debut in the promotion next year.
Paul has built his 10-1 professional boxing record by beating faded UFC legends such as Ben Askren, Anderson Silva, Mike Perry and Diaz, who he dropped and outpointed in August 2023.
A $15million offer was made for Nate Diaz to do the rematch under MMA rules in the PFL cage, but the Stockton, California native turned it down because he wants to return to the UFC at some point.
Dan Hardy thinks Jake Paul could beat Nate Diaz in MMA
Hardy believes Diaz is smart to avoid welcoming ‘The Problem Child’ to a new sport because he could end up suffering a legacy-tarnishing defeat that he’d never live down.
Even with so much money on the line, ‘The Outlaw’ doesn’t think the fight is worth the risk for Conor McGregor‘s long-time rival.
“The reality is that Nate Diaz isn’t going to take that risk, he’s not going to risk his MMA legacy getting clipped by Jake Paul,” Hardy told BloodyElbow.com.
“You know, when they had a boxing match, Jake Paul was hitting him with some pretty serious shots and Nate wasn’t really doing anything to hurt Jake.
“That in an MMA fight, it’s just not worth the risk for Nate. I know a lot of MMA fans are going to be like, ‘There’s no way that Jake Paul could potentially beat Nate Diaz’ but you’ve got to look at combat sports realistically. Any man over 200lbs that connects with a clean punch is going to knock another man out.
“Nate takes a lot of punches, he’s got a lot of scar tissue, and he’s not got the wrestling that he would need to get the fight into his real danger zone, into his wheelhouse.
“Jake Paul’s got a background in wrestling. It just doesn’t make sense for Nate to take that fight. I totally understand why he wouldn’t, it’s too great of a risk to damage his MMA legacy.”
Dan Hardy names three people he’d like to see Jake Paul fight in MMA
Still, Hardy insists there are plenty of exciting fights for Paul in MMA.
The first one that came to mind was another rematch with an ex-UFC star he boxed in Mike Perry, who was stopped in six rounds by the 27-year-old when they fought this July.
Hardy added: “I think we’ve got some really good options.”
“The obvious one for me right now is Mike Perry. No matter what rules he’s fighting under he’s fascinating, and I just feel that if you put him back into the small gloves and take some rules away so he can open us game a bit, he’ll go back to those savage fights we’ve seen him have previously.
The 42-year-old prefers another fight for Paul. Although Ray Cooper III probably doesn’t have the name value the former Disney star is after, Hardy thinks he’d be the ideal opponent for his MMA debut.
Hardy also wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Paul complete his trilogy of fights with former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who he outpointed and KO’d in boxing a few years ago.
“Honestly, if I was doing the matchmaking myself, I’d get Jake Paul in there with Ray Cooper III,” he said.
“Both guys can punch, both guys can wrestle. Ray Cooper is a little bit shorter and more compact.
“Then again, Jake Paul would tower over him and that’s kind of what he likes in these fights, he likes to feel like he’s the bigger, stronger fighter, that’s why he’s calling out lots of small guys.
“Tyron Woodley is coming out of retirement. Maybe we can dust him off and throw him back in there with Jake and see what happens in MMA.”