Scott Coker used to promote Nick and Nate Diaz in Strikeforce and the two have a good relationship.
With Coker now serving as Bellator’s president, he confirmed to the media in Ireland that the promotion is talking with Diaz and his team about a deal.
The hope is to have a deal in place that allows Diaz to take boxing fights but his MMA fights would be in Bellator.
“We are definitely talking to him. We’ve reached out,” Coker said about Diaz. “But I’m sure he’s talking to everybody, he’s in a pretty good situation. I know he wants to fight Jake Paul, who is fighting Anderson Silva on Showtime pay-per-view – which is our home network – so there’s some synergies here. We’re just hoping that we could have some type of deal to at least have his MMA fights with Bellator, so we are in dialogue.”
Although Bellator and Nate Diaz are in talks, that doesn’t mean a deal will be made. With that said, Diaz has previously shown interest in fighting for Bellator and working with Coker again, as he took to social media before Bellator Hawaii and requested to be put in the lineup so he could fight on the same card as his teammate Yancy Medeiros.
It’s still not known what will be next for Diaz as he has talked about boxing Jake Paul. After his UFC 279 win over Tony Ferguson, he confirmed he would be testing free agency.
“I want to get out of the UFC and show all the fighters how to take over and own another sport,” Diaz said after UFC 279. “Boxing, kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu. I’m the creme de la creme right here and I’m coming for you.”
Diaz is currently 21-13 as a pro and before the win over Ferguson he suffered back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal.
Nate Diaz is interested in boxing Jake Paul
Diaz fought out his UFC contract in the main event of UFC 279 as he scored a submission win over Tony Ferguson. After the win, he confirmed he would be leaving the UFC to take over another sport which he says is boxing as he wants to box professionally.
“From 17 or 18 years old, I was starting to fight, I was boxing with my boxing coach. There were boxers all over my gym, and I was going to box initially, but MMA shows were more around my area, and they were happening, so I got stuck in MMA,” Diaz said to iD Boxing.
“I got stuck in a cage this whole time with contracts and stuff. Now everything is open for the taking. I never stopped training for a boxing fight since I started fighting. When the right opponent or right thing comes, we’re going to take it.”
When asked about boxing Jake Paul, as the brash YouTuber has called him out, Nate Diaz says he is interested in that. He also says that is one of the options he is exploring but knows Paul is focused on Anderson Silva right now.
“He’s for sure one of the options. He’s doing big stuff. He’s doing big things. He’s got a big fight ahead of him. If he wins that, I’m sure people will be really impressed by it. And if Anderson (Silva) does his thing on him, that’s impressive also. Now we’ve got a fight on his hands. I’m looking forward to it,” Diaz added.
Diaz says he isn’t sure who wins that fight but if Paul defeats the former UFC middleweight a bout against the Stockton native would be massive. For now, Diaz is exploring his options but will likely take some time before he fights again.