Jake Paul spent the second half of 2023 campaigning for a Nate Diaz fight.
“The Problem Child” wanted to prove he could beat Diaz in boxing as well as mixed martial arts (MMA). Paul accomplished the first goal during their late summer showdown in Dallas, but couldn’t get the Stockton slapper to agree to part two.
Perhaps Paul should have been focusing on former rival Tyron Woodley.
“I think if you’re going to fight anybody in MMA, you fight me in MMA,” Woodley told TMZ Sports (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I’m the one that did the numbers with you. I’m the one that had the crazy millions and millions of views in the press conference. I’m the one that was a five-time champion. I’m the one that took the fight on two weeks’ notice. I was [filming] Cobra Kai for 14 hours straight. I trained at 3 a.m. and I saved that card. That card was not going to happen. People would not have been buying Christmas gifts had I not stepped up to the plate. So to talk about fighting anybody in MMA outside of me is disrespect.”
Paul narrowly defeated Woodley by split decision when they first went to war in Aug. 2021, then stiffened “The Chosen One” in their short-notice do-over, a hastily-assembled rematch that came together when Paul’s original opponent, Hasim Rahman Jr., failed to make weight.
“If you really, really want to prove that you can do it in my world, you fight the No. 1 guy in that world,” Woodley continued. “Nate has never touched gold, never been close to gold ever. Either has [Derek] Brunson and I saw some other people barking. Everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon. You kind of sound like groupies. Everybody wants to fight Jake. Remember, I never asked to fight Jake. I was staying out the mix. I was cornering Ben Askren. MMA wise, the fact that we’re not even speaking about me fighting him, especially with my affiliation with the PFL, it’s kind of disrespectful.”
Paul, fresh off his knockout win over Andre August, is expected to make his MMA debut for PFL at some point in 2024. No word yet on a potential opponent, but it sounds like Woodley is throwing his name into the “Problem Child” hat.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
