Did Injury Slow Diaz Down?

Despite a valiant effort, Nate Diaz came up short in his professional boxing debut against Jake Paul last night (Sat., Aug. 5, 2023) in Dallas, Texas, losing a unanimous decision to “The Problem Child” after 10 rounds of action (highlights).

But it seems Diaz may not have been 100-percent coming into the fight. revealing during the post-fight presser that he had suffered a bad arm injury in training camp.

“He did a good job. He’s a fucking athletic, strong dude and he hits hard and fast, but it ain’t nothing I hadn’t seen before, and I trained with people who were [like that]. These guys can throw down,” he said in giving credit to Paul before talking about his injury during camp.

“It’s good shit. […] I should have been throwing punches, keeping him on the outside. I’m not trying to make an excuse, but about a month back I hurt my […] right arm, a bit. It was wearing and tearing on my right arm if I was jabbing or doing stuff.

“I think I should’ve kept on the outside and do more stuff. It’s all good.I think I should’ve kept to the outside and circled, and done better stuff. But it’s all good. There’s no way I [wouldn’t] show up for a fight because of something like that. You gotta go regardless, no matter what.”

And show up he did, going the distance with the more experienced boxer, even surviving a knockdown in the fifth round to make it all the way through. Now, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight title contender has his eyes on revenge inside the Professional Fighters League (PFL) cage.

Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen, but it seems Diaz is holding all of the cards and is in full control of his career after parting ways with UFC. Though the Stockton slugger hasn’t ruled out a return to the Octagon.

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For complete Paul vs. Diaz results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.