‘I’m happy for him’ - UFC president Dana White opens up on Nate Diaz following his defeat against Jake Paul

Nate Diaz suffered a loss against Jake Paul in a boxing match and regarding that, the UFC president, Dana White reacted for the first time to reporters. He opened up about the former UFC star and claimed that Diaz looked good and happy despite the loss at American Airlines Center in Dallas. 

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At the UFC Apex, White said: “For a kid pushing 40 years old fighting a guy four weight classes bigger than him in boxing and two in MMA and going the distance at his age against a 20-f*cking-something-year-old kid, so far, he’s fared the best. He looked good. I’m happy for him.”

“I don’t know about fighting in the future, but this is always going to be his house.” - Dana White on Nate Diaz

Diaz left the UFC late in 2022. But, since his departure, he has indicated his plan for a return. Regarding the same, White confirmed that the company still has a lot of respect for Diaz for the accomplishments he had achieved.

“We feel the same way about Nate. We always have. I always joke around about dealing with the Diaz Brothers. These two, you see it now. They’re two iconic fighters that 20 years from now everybody will remember and talk about. This will always be Nate’s house. Nate grew up here. He came up on ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ He fought some of the biggest fights ever here. We love the kid. I don’t know about fighting in the future, but this is always going to be his house. We’ll see,” White concluded. 

After the loss to Paul, Diaz opened up about a shoulder injury that affected his performance. During the media interaction at the evening’s post-fight press conference, he said: “ Richard got mad at me because I wasn’t training how I should have been training. I should have been throwing punches, keeping him on the outside and doing a lot of stuff. Like I said in an interview, I’m not trying to make excuses, but about a month back I was trying to stay big and I hurt my arm a little bit. Wear and tear on my right arm if I was jabbing or doing a lot of stuff, so I would get inside and fight like a Mexican guy. Smother their punches and get in there and make every sparring session a brawl and did that in camp, and that’s how the fight went.”