Nate Diaz vs Jorge Masvidal 2 LIVE RESULTS: Diaz wins THRILLING boxing match and calls out Jake Paul – latest reaction
NATE DIAZ has BEATEN Jorge Masvidal after 10 brutal rounds in California.
Diaz got his revenge for their last bout five years ago in the UFC, with Masvidal winning their grudge match for the BMF title.
The 39-year-old was victorious by way of a split decision, with the judges scoring the bout 95-95, 97-93 and 98-92.
When asked what was next, Diaz called out Jake Paul for a blockbuster rematch - and he also said he has his sights set on Leon Edwards.
- Result: Diaz def. Masvidal
Follow ALL of the latest updates below...
Armando Vargas vs Sean Garcia (Round 3)
Vargas must think he has seen a chink in the armour of Garcia with these body shots as he keeps peppering him.
Most boxers use them to open the chance of a head shot but, so far, Vargas has failed to land many of them.
Garcia seems to catch Vargas with a counter, he is trying to work the head more than his opponent.
If he connects with some of the big right or left hands, Vargas could be in trouble.
Armando Vargas vs Sean Garcia (Round 2)
The pundits ringside have Garcia taking the first round as he landed the cleaner punches.
Vargas is still coming forward trying to work Garcia but all his shots are body shots and they do not seem to be hurting his opponent.
A telling factor in this fight is whether both fighters can keep this tempo up, whoever tires first may let their guard down.
Armando Vargas vs Sean Garcia (Round 1)
This is scheduled for eight rounds of boxing.
Vargas comes straght out of the traps and takes the fight to Garcia.
He works the body but cannot find a way through his defence to get any headshots in.
Garcia warms up to the fight and starts getting some good shots in towards the end of the round.
The way this fight has started, you wonder if this will go the distance.
Armando Vargas vs Sean Garcia
These two met in one of Garcia's final fights as an amateur.
On that occasion he lost to Vargas.
Since then they have both gone on to pro-careers and remain unbeaten, something has to give tonight.
Four more fights before main event
With a big undercard for this PPV event, we have another four bouts before we get to Diaz vs Masvidal.
Nate Diaz has just arrived in the arena and will be gearing up for his much-anticipated rematch.
The crowd is starting to fill up in the arena and we have had quite a few fights go to the judges decision so far, giving the fans their money's worth.
Undercard underway in lead up to main event
Devin Cushing beat Manuel Correa by unanimous decision in the most recent bout.
The judges scored the fight 77-75, 78-74, 80-72.
Cushing fully deserved his victory and landed all the big shots, using the uppercut to rock his opponent at will.
Despite it going the full eight rounds, there was only ever going to be one winner.
Mas be mad
As McGregor looks to reschedule his anticipated return as Masvidal fired one more brutal dig.
He said: "Would I want that fight? Yeah, I wouldn't mind, I just wouldn't hold my breath on it.
“Because this coward, if they can't even get him to fight Chandler with a f***ing fractured pinky nail you think he's gonna f***ing fight me? Not a chance.
“And he's convinced he could beat Chandler, he knows, he knows if he gets in there with me, man, he's playing with his fucking life, you know."
Mas be mad
As McGregor looks to reschedule his anticipated return as Masvidal fired one more brutal dig.
He said: "Would I want that fight? Yeah, I wouldn't mind, I just wouldn't hold my breath on it.
“Because this coward, if they can't even get him to fight Chandler with a f***ing fractured pinky nail you think he's gonna f***ing fight me? Not a chance.
“And he's convinced he could beat Chandler, he knows, he knows if he gets in there with me, man, he's playing with his fucking life, you know."
Con job
Conor McGregor was due to return in a 170-pound welterweight bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 303.
It would have been his first bout for three years, last fighting in 2021 against Masvidal's training partner Dustin Poirier.
But McGregor - for the first time in his UFC career - was forced to withdraw after suffering a toe injury.
"He’s pulled out how many times out of his fight?" Masvidal asked.
"How many times has this fight been rescheduled for one reason or another?
“This is not the first time that this fight falls apart, I think it's the second or third time."
Credit: GETTY
Con job
Conor McGregor was due to return in a 170-pound welterweight bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 303.
It would have been his first bout for three years, last fighting in 2021 against Masvidal's training partner Dustin Poirier.
But McGregor - for the first time in his UFC career - was forced to withdraw after suffering a toe injury.
"He’s pulled out how many times out of his fight?" Masvidal asked.
"How many times has this fight been rescheduled for one reason or another?
“This is not the first time that this fight falls apart, I think it's the second or third time."
Credit: GETTY Con the run
Masvidal claimed "diva" and "coward" Conor McGregor would be "playing with his life" by accepting a fight against him.
The two were once linked with what had the potential to be a blockbuster UFC pay-per-view grudge match.
But Masvidal insists McGregor would not take the fight back then and will not do so now.
He told SunSport: “This fight has the potential to break all types of pay-per-view records and be massive.
"But Conor wouldn't accept this fight before he got extra bitch mode and extra diva mode."
Credit: AP Jake to say it
Masvidal revealed the UFC have allowed him up to three boxing bouts before he returns to the octagon.
But the polarising Jake Paul - who beat Diaz on points in 2023 - might have talked his way out of a fight with Masvidal amid his feud with UFC boss Dana White.
The American social media sensation has been blacklisted from Masvidal's list of potential boxing opponents.
“I mean, it's not like Jake's doing bad and he needs the UFC because from what I hear he's doing all right and from what I see," Masvidal said.
“So it's not like he needs this fight, like he needs the UFC but if he hadn't said so much s**t about Dana and the company, he would have been a possible opponent.
“But that wouldn't be good for me either because what promoting could he do if I would have snapped his jaw shut because that dude, he won't last three or four rounds with me, man.
“I'll break him down and I can't wait for the Nate fight because the world's gonna be able to see the difference between me and a lot of these other guys when it comes to these hands."
Jake to say it
Masvidal revealed the UFC have allowed him up to three boxing bouts before he returns to the octagon.
But the polarising Jake Paul - who beat Diaz on points in 2023 - might have talked his way out of a fight with Masvidal amid his feud with UFC boss Dana White.
The American social media sensation has been blacklisted from Masvidal's list of potential boxing opponents.
“I mean, it's not like Jake's doing bad and he needs the UFC because from what I hear he's doing all right and from what I see," Masvidal said.
“So it's not like he needs this fight, like he needs the UFC but if he hadn't said so much s**t about Dana and the company, he would have been a possible opponent.
“But that wouldn't be good for me either because what promoting could he do if I would have snapped his jaw shut because that dude, he won't last three or four rounds with me, man.
“I'll break him down and I can't wait for the Nate fight because the world's gonna be able to see the difference between me and a lot of these other guys when it comes to these hands."
Lo blow
Jorge Masvidal is ready to give away a size advantage to fight Logan Paul.
“He's got a little bit more weight than me, but it doesn't matter, he come up to the weight that he wants and that's just f**king blow the roof off, whatever, wherever we fight.
“Now, obviously I'm gonna knock this motherf**ker dead.
"So he's gotta be willing to take part in that because he knows I'm not no f**king over the top fighter or some dude that doesn't know how to fight like a lot of the guys that he's been fighting.
“I've been fighting my whole f**king life. I'm gonna get him and hurt this dude. And yeah, these influencers would be good paychecks."
Credit: AP Hit for six
Jorge Masvidal Masvidal has drawn up a six-man boxing hit-list - with his eyes on breaking pay-per-view records.
Masvidal is still under contract with the UFC but he has been granted special permission to cross over to boxing.
His venture to the ring starts on Saturday in a rematch against Nate Diaz - who he stopped in three rounds in 2019.
But Masvidal has his eyes on the likes of Logan Paul and his brother Jake in his sights as well as British pair KSI and Tommy Fury.
He hopes it will set him up to face boxing greats Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao later down the line.
When does Diaz vs Masvidal take place?
The fight was originally set for June 1 but was moved to avoid a clash with UFC 302.
The card kicks off from 11pm BST time with the main event expected to get underway from 5am BST/ midnight ET.
Undercard action
Here is what else is on offer
- Daniel Jacobs vs. Shane Mosley Jr., 10 rounds
- Chris Avilla vs. Anthony Pettis, 6 rounds
- Amado Vargas vs. Sean Garcia, 8 rounds
- Devin Cushing vs. Manuel Correa, 8 rounds
- Luciano Ramos vs. Dan Hernandez, 4 rounds
- Alan Sanchez vs. Luis Lopez, 8 rounds
- Steven Dunn vs. Gabriel Costa, 4 rounds
- Ken Lopez vs. Andres Martinez, 6 rounds
- Jose Aguayo vs. Bryce Logan, 6 rounds
Con the way
Conor McGregor is backing old UFC rival Nate Diaz to beat Jorge Masvidal.
McGregor said: "I’ve decided to put $500,000 on Diaz to win tonight’s boxing match.
"Range, form, experience, solely hands being used, I can’t see Masvidal causing any problems to Nate in a boxing ring whatsoever.
"They are both little play around dips***s in a fight, play around bollox, but I feel Nate does him in EASY here for real. $500k gets me back $1,625,000 all in."
Can do attitude
The UFC star set up shop at Jorge Capetillo's gym in Eastside Vegas and found himself running into boxing royalty when Canelo Alvarez stopped by.
"I respect Canelo, even more so outside of the ring than inside because the guy is such a f**king good, humble person," he said.
“He'll say hi to everybody that's in the room. He'll go out of his way to shake everybody's hands.
“There's 200 fans outside, he'll take pictures with all of them, how he treats his staff, how he treats his trainers.
“And I've seen it a couple times he's just like a f***ing solid and good dude and I really like that about him.
“Then he took time to watch me spar, he took five minutes. He took out of his moment because he's getting ready to cut weight and do his s**t.
“And bro, nobody wants to talk in those times. I'm a fighter, I've been fighting for 20 years once I'm cutting weight and s*** like that.
“I'm just worried about me, focussed about me and he took the time, time to come over and give me five-seven minutes of just like, ‘Look, this works for boxing, this doesn't. If I were you from what I just saw, I would do this, forget about that and this is how I do it. Maybe you wanna try it like this, maybe you wanna try it like that.’
“And I just thought that was the f***ing coolest thing ever."
Glove to see it
Jorge
has done everything to avoid being the latest MMA fighter exposed in the boxing ring.
"I’ve really put in a lot of time to switch over the craft," Masvidal explained.
“Because from the start of it, I didn't wanna be an MMA guy going into boxing and taking my MMA training to supplement my boxing.
“No, I wanted to do what boxers do. I wanted to box how they're working out, get into that routine. So I came here to Las Vegas.
“I've been here about six months now just doing the boxing thing from the moment the sun goes up till it goes down.
“We're just doing whatever boxers do and I think it's paid off a lot of dividends."
Credit: Zuffa LLC Masvidal opens up on training away from his kids
"Nate's got to pay for everything, you know, his face has to pay all these bills," Masvidal told SunSport.
“Yeah, it sucks, man, because I always have my kids are like my support system like I got my ass kicked in the gym today, I'm gonna hang out with my kids and we'll go eat some f**king pizza and this and that and tomorrow will be better, you know.
“But I haven't had that support system here. So it's, it's been tough at times."
No kidology
Jorge Masvidal has spent five painful months away from his children - something he vows to make Nate Diaz pay for.
The fighter on Saturday faces Diaz in a boxing rematch - five years on from his stoppage win in the MMA cage.
Masvidal - still under contract with the UFC - has been granted special permission to cross over to the ring before returning to the octagon.
And he has left no stone unturned by leaving his home in Miami to train over 2,000 miles away in Las Vegas.
But the bout has faced several months of delays - leaving Masvidal with greater time to hone his newfound skills.
Although it has come at the harsh cost of being away from his two daughters and young son.
Fight night
Tonight, Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz look to settle their differences once and for all.
But, it will not be in the cage like was the case in 2019 when Masvidal controversially beat Diaz.
He won via third-round stoppage when a cut on Diaz's eye was deemed to deep to continue.
The bad blood has continued to brew and it now looks set to be resolved in the boxing ring.
Diaz lost his boxing debut to Jake Paul last August while Masvidal takes to the ring for the second time.
Join SunSport for all the latest leading up to the grudge rematch.