Nate Diaz just made his professional boxing debut against Jake Paul on August 5th, 2023 and he lost a clear-cut unanimous decision in the fight. The match served as the main event for a fight card that was built around their rivalry, but there were several exciting fights earlier in the night as well. Along with several experienced boxers beforehand, UFC veteran Jeremy Stephens competed in his second professional boxing match after he fought Jose Aldo to a draw earlier in 2023. He was facing one of Diaz’s training partners, Chris Avila, and Stephens ended up being on the receiving end of a unanimous decision loss over 6 rounds.
The co-main event was undoubtedly the most impressive fight of the night though, and it was also the one with the biggest impact on the world of professional boxing. The undisputed female featherweight world champion Amanda Serrano put all six of her titles on the line against Heather Hardy, a rematch of a fight that happened back in 2019. Serrano won that first fight by unanimous decision over 10 rounds and she repeated that feat in their second fight, defending her titles and reconfirming her place as one of the greatest female boxers in the history of the sport.
When time came for the main event between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz, fans were excited to see the two battle it out over 10 rounds in Diaz’s professional boxing debut. The first 3 rounds didn’t quite go the way many had expected though, as Paul won each of them pretty cleanly. Diaz started to come back into the fight and won the 4th, but Paul landed the only knockdown of the fight in the 5th round. Other than the 8th round where Diaz enjoyed some more success, Paul ran away with the rest of the fight. The judges returned two scores of 98-91 and one of 97-92, as Paul pushed the action from start to finish and landed the cleaner shots in almost every single round.
Although the boxing match between Nate Diaz and Jake Paul ended definitively, there has been some talk of an MMA fight between the pair as well. There’s nothing concrete in the books just yet but there’s undoubtedly a lot of money on the table for both men if they can come to terms. Given that Diaz is a free agent and Paul has already signed a contract with PFL, it’s not completely outside the realms of possibility that an MMA fight between the two might come to fruition. Both men have other options though, as many MMA fighters and boxers wouldn’t turn down a money-fight with Paul and Diaz has openly said he has unfinished business with Conor McGregor.
