Matt Brown claims Jake Paul to beat Nate Diaz in potential $15 million MMA showdown

Matt “The Immortal” Brown is a veteran of 30 UFC fights and 43 fights overall. The 43-year-old Ohio native is still competing in the UFC and even won a Performance Bonus in his recent fight against Court McGee. Brown has been with the UFC since 2008.

Recently, in an interview with Damon Martin of MMA Fighting, he had things to say about a potential MMA bout between Nate Diaz and Jake Paul. Apparently, Brown’s prediction is a surprising one as it strays away from the consensus opinion.

Matt Brown backs Jake Paul to beat Nate Diaz in MMA

Jake Paul fought Nate Diaz in a boxing bout in August and won via unanimous decision. Diaz suffered an early knockout scare but scraped through 10 rounds with “The Problem Child”. After the early barrage from Paul, the most notable moment of the fight was when Diaz sank a guillotine on Paul by the end of the fight.

Immediately after the fight, Paul offered a rematch for Diaz, but in MMA. However, Diaz has, as of yet, refused to accept the fight. Paul’s offer is a flat $15 million for Diaz to fight in the PFL. One of the reasons for Diaz’s hesitance is his loyalty to the UFC, which is considered the best by Diaz. PFL Chairman, Donn Davis, also publicly offered Diaz the purse in his appearance on the MMA Hour by Ariel Helwani after the news of the Bellator-PFL deal was announced.

Many have predicted a victory for Diaz in an MMA bout with Paul. However, UFC welterweight Matt Brown does not seem to agree with the general consensus. The popular opinion is that Diaz would easily win the fight via submission. He already sank into a tight guillotine choke on Paul with boxing gloves.

“Jake Paul, I’m going to pick him to win. I’m going to pick him to beat Nate Diaz”, said Brown to Martin. Brown is of the opinion that Paul already has the advantage in the striking department which was evident in their boxing bout. “I don’t think he’ll be able to take him down”, he further added citing that Paul has the size advantage to counter any takedown attempt from Diaz.

Nate Diaz was offered $15 million to fight Jake Paul in PFL

PFL Chairman, Donn Davis, was recently interviewed by Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour in the backdrop of the PFL and Bellator MMA merging together under the PFL banner. Bellator MMA was running in losses, as evidenced by the court documents revealed with respect to the class action lawsuit the UFC is facing.

Davis spoke in depth about the various nuances of the merger and the future of the Bellator athletes and employees, which surprisingly was bigger than that of PFL, who are tight-knit small groups. Davis also spoke about a potential fight between Paul and Diaz, which Davis believes will happen in late 2024.

“‘Here’s $15 million, here’s Jake, we have all the infrastructure at PFL, and we’re easy to work with.’ Dink. The light’s on”, Davis sent out a public offer to Nate Diaz. Moreover, he provided the timeframe required by Jake, who has just started training MMA and will be facing Andre August in December of 2023.

PFL CEO, Peter Murray already announced plans for a bout between Francis Ngannou and Deonay Wilder in addition to the bout between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz. The merger of the PFL and Bellator MMA has made them a very formidable rival for the UFC, the premier MMA promotion.

Do you think Jake Paul will defeat Nate Diaz in MMA? Leave your comment below!