Nate Diaz‘s last UFC fight is against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279. Sean O’Malley and his coach Tim Welch recently discussed Diaz’s potential fight against Jake Paul after his UFC career.
The fighter-coach duo spoke on their talk show, the TimboSugarShow, and mentioned a potential meeting between Nate Diaz and Jake Paul. Welch said:
“Dude, f***ing, him [Jake Paul] vs. Nate [Diaz]. I would be so excited for that Nate and Jake fight. I mean, we’d go. I feel like if Nate’s smart, he’ll get done with this Khamzat [Chimaev] fight and just, ‘Okay, I’m boxing. Everyday I’m hitting pads, I’m a pro boxer now. That’s what I’m focusing on.’ Because if he keeps up with his MMA training, and Jake’s training everyday boxing, he [Paul] might light Nate up.”
O’Malley highlighted the differences between boxing gloves and MMA gloves and referenced Ben Askren’s fight with Jake Paul:
“And it’s different getting hit with boxing gloves and MMA gloves, whether it’s worse or better, it’s just different dude. Like you see Ben Askren got rocked multiple times in his MMA career, but never got knocked out. And then he gets hit with a boxing glove from Jake, gets dropped face first.”
Diaz will have time to prepare for a fight with the YouTuber-turned-boxer, but his sights are currently trained on Russian-born Swede Chimaev. As dangerous as ‘Borz’ is, Nate Diaz will look to bow out on a high.
Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley himself is set to face the toughest opponent of his career in former bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 280.
The fight has prompted many to write off ‘Sugar’ as his previous opponents do not match up to Yan’s caliber. However, O’Malley himself has assured fans that the fight will see him in better stead than ever before:
“I think the higher level guys I fight, the better ‘Sugar’ you guys are going to get. I’ve not been able to show my true MMA skills inside the octagon. I think Petr’s the guy to really let us see how good I really am.”
O’Malley and coach Tim Welch will be hard at work and hoping to make the biggest fight of his career count. A win could potentially translate into a title shot against champion Aljamain Sterling.
Watch the full episode of TimboSugarShow on YouTube: