Anthony Joshua has been called out four weeks before returning to the ring against UFC legend Francis Ngannou, who barely lost to Tyson Fury last year.
Nate Diaz has called out Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury six months after being defeated by Jake Paul in his boxing debut. The long-time UFC fighter swapped sports last summer but lost by unanimous decision after being knocked down in the fifth round.
Diaz, 38, now wants a ‘real fight’ against anyone, including the top two British heavyweights. The Californian is adamant that he would ‘f*** up’ both despite coming in considerably undersized compared to the pair.
He fought Paul at a 185lbs cruiserweight catchweight, standing at 6ft with a 76in reach. In these hypothetical fights, Diaz would give up six and nine inches in height to Joshua and Fury respectively, while weighing between 50 and 90 lbs less.
But the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu third-degree black belt is undeterred by a lack of size. With two decades of fight experience behind him, Diaz believes he is a match for anyone.
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“I’ll f*** up Tyson Fury. I’ll f*** up Anthony Joshua,” he told the American streamer Sneako. “All these motherf*****s in a real fight, like, they don’t stand a chance.
“And then it’s like, we’ve got, everybody’s going on boxing [Floyd] Mayweather. We’re playing a little game,” Diaz remarked regarding the rumours dating back to 2022 of fighting his fellow American.
He continued: “I don’t like being labelled an ‘MMA fighter’. I’m a boxer. I’m a Jiu-Jitsu guy. I’m a kickboxer. I don’t like any of the one-dimensional things by itself anyway. I like it all.”
But almost 18 months after leaving the UFC, he remains a free agent but was open to fighting at UFC 300 in April. “I wanted to, but I don’t think so,” Diaz added.
“I think I wanna do boxing, fight another fighter. I could fight anybody in the world right now, but no one can fight me. Everybody’s locked down to organisations, locked down to the UFC, PFL.”
He has previously touted the prospect of fighting at the anniversary event on social media. “UFC 300 would be tight, but there’s nobody to fight,” he posted on X late last year.
Diaz was due to face Conor McGregor in a rematch from UFC 196, but UFC president Dana White pulled his opponent from the card for refusing to fly to Las Vegas for promotional activities.
They later fought at UFC 202, which McGregor won by a majority decision. Diaz reminisced on that fight late last month by sharing a photo pre-fight photo with the caption: “Real war,” hinting at the prospect of a trilogy fight at UFC 300.
He also teased rematching Leon Edwards, who he lost to in his penultimate UFC fight, at the event late on Christmas Day, by sharing a gif from the first fight with the comment: “300”.
