It seems a lot of MMA stars have been trying out their hands in boxing, from Marcus Hicks to Francis Ngannou and now Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal. The two UFC faced each other in the ring over the weekend at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, where Diaz exacted his revenge on longtime UFC rival Jorge Masvidal.
The 10-round boxing match began with Diaz landing powerful strikes and punches, but Masvidal soon picked up the pace and retaliated with a stiff left and right hook. The two exchanged blows, but Masvidal got the upper hand and rained down punches on Diaz. He responded with a slick jab and followed with a left-right combo. He continued to pepper Masvidal with punches. They traded punches, with Diaz throwing as much as he was taking, but he seemed to have the upper hand in the fight and landed more damaging shots.
As the fight progressed, both fighters continued to push each other without tiring. Diaz took the lead and backed Masvidal to the corner, but Masvidal managed to remain in the fight with a strong defense and deadly shots that rocked Diaz’s jaw.
The two put on a tough fight, but Nate Diaz won by majority decision. Diaz seeming pretty satisfied with his win over Masvidal.
“It feels good to get the job done,” Diaz said. “Mission accomplished. I could feel the love out there every time. Shout out to California. It’s all love. It’s always been respect for anyone I’m fighting. He showed up and came to fight, and so did I, so it’s all good.
On the other hand, Masvidal felt he landed more shots and the score were unfair as he believed he deserved the win.
“I thought I won,” Masvidal said. “I thought I hit harder shots. We can do it again. We’re 1-1. We’ll find a place and do it again. I definitely thought I landed more meaningful shots. The harder shots, 100 percent I landed them. Nate wants to run again, we can.”
The battle was a chance to beat Masvidal, who defeated him with a TKO win during their battle at UFC 244 for the BMF title. The win is Diaz’s first after he suffered defeat at the hands of Jake Paul during his debut. Despite the fight being his second boxing match, Diaz is eager to take on more fights and has even made his intentions known on getting revenge on Jake Paul.
“I’m going to beat Jake Pau’s f*cking ass and I’m down to fight the highest ranked boxer I can find. My main objective is to be the best fighter in the world, so I want to go back and get a UFC tilt, Leon Edwards, Jake Paul and anybody f*cl else. You’re dead.”
Although he sounds eager to begin his boxing career, Diaz may still stick around in MMA for a while. He seems to have his eyes set on batting Conor McGregor, who is set to make a comeback.
“I see it as a fight that needs to happen,” Diaz said to Manouk Akpyan of BoxingScene. “I want to get this fight out of the way to think about the future. UFC 306 [at the Sphere in Las Vegas] would be great if that is even an option, I want to do big fight against the best opponents for the rest of my career.”
