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Jake Paul and Nate Diaz are two names that didn’t pair together in a sentence dating back to 2016. Before he was “The Problem Child,” he was a Disney Channel actor and a YouTube prankster. Meanwhile, the Stockton MMA cult icon was half the sport’s most compelling rivalry with Conor McGregor.
The two men couldn’t be more different. However, in the year 2023, they are scheduled to face each other in a boxing match on the 5th of August. Given Nate Diaz’s status as one of the biggest stars in MMA and Jake Paul’s status as the influential face of the boxing world, many PPV sales are expected for the upcoming event.
Unfortunately, the pairs match is unlikely to reach the estimated PPV goals. On the surface, there appears to be no compelling reason to expect Matchmaking to perform poorly in terms of PPV sales. Thus, a more in-depth look is required.
Here’s why it didn’t sell well:
Everyone expects Jack Paul to beat Nate Diaz, and neither man is as great of a draw as it was supposed to be.
When Jake Paul faced Ben Askren, the oomph behind the match was that he finally faced a professional fighter who would show him the difference between boxing an NBA player and other social media influencers, and facing a former world champion MMA fighter. It sold very well at a purchase of 1,500,000 PPV.
After The Problem Child surprised the combat sports world with his dismissal, interest in seeing him lose has only grown. So when he later faced former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, hopes were still high and PPV sold 500,000 buys. However, their rematch only bought a paltry 200,000 PPV.
Why? Because no one was interested in seeing Jake Paul defeat someone who had already been beaten, someone they already knew Can beats. On top of that, fans were crying out to see him fight a real boxer in prime physical form, not retired MMA fighters in their late 30s after years of wear and tear.
Thus, it came as no surprise that no one was interested in watching him battle the 47-year-old Anderson Silva, no matter how impressive the Brazilian was with his earlier victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. This is why the match has sold no more than 300,000 PPV buys. Apparently Jake Paul isn’t quite the box office draw he thinks he is.
His subsequent bout against Tommy Fury was much better, but that was largely due to the possibility of seeing the ‘problem kid’ lose to someone with a highly publicized rivalry who is a professional boxer who was undefeated in his physical prime: fans of the opponent were desperate for him to fight.
Fans wanted to see Jake Paul lose and know his cap. So when he lost to Fury, that was it. The event sold 800,000 buys, but his boxing match with Nate Diaz might not. First, the plot to see Jake Paul lose is gone. Second, if he’s fighting anyone fans would care to see fight at this point, it’s KSI, because of their rivalry.
Third, Nate Diaz is not a boxer. He is a 38-year-old MMA fighter, much younger than Paul. Fans have already seen how the boxing match between Paul and MMA veterans goes. Fourth, Diaz has quite a bit of punching power. Most of his knockouts come from attrition to opponents his size with smaller gloves.
It is doubtful that Nate Diaz could hit or even hurt someone that Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva could not, both men being many times stronger than him. Fifth, despite what many might think, Diaz isn’t much of a draw either.
Besides his two fights with Conor McGregor, the only other PPV after his feud with The Irishman that Nate Diaz has featured, with PPV numbers revealed, is UFC 263, which has sold 600,000 PPV buys. This is the card Nate Diaz appeared on And Israel Adesanya, one of MMA’s biggest stars.
Thus, showing Diaz alone versus Paul isn’t likely to yield the numbers some are expecting.
The event will take place on the same night as SummerSlam
August 5 couldn’t be a worse date for Jake Paul and Nate Diaz to get their own scraps on PPV. They will be in direct competition with the largest wrestling promotion in the world. WWE is scheduled to host SummerSlam on the exact same day.
SummerSlam is widely considered WWE’s second biggest event, surpassed only by WrestleMania in grandeur and viewership. This year’s SummerSlam is set to introduce Roman Reigns, the current undisputed WWE Champion. He is also the single biggest draw in the professional wrestling industry today.
Even worse for Diaz and Paul, Reigns is currently involved in the most popular and well-received storyline the professional wrestling world has seen in years. Although nothing has been announced about his opponent, Jey is expected to face Uso in a title match as part of the SummerSlam tournament.
This causes trouble for the boxing match that was headlined by Nate Diaz and Jake Paul. With his loss to Tommy Fury, the plot in watching The Problem Child finally taste defeat is at an all-time low. He’s not a big draw in the PPV, nor would a KSI box or professional boxer in their youth.
Instead, it would be boxing Nate Diaz, an aging MMA fighter who didn’t come close to selling a million PPV buys without Conor McGregor’s help, even on a card featuring middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. These issues are magnified by the direct competition from WWE.
Alongside Roman Reigns, SummerSlam was also rumored to be hosting a three-way match between Cody Rhodes and the ever-famous Brock Lesnar. In terms of PPVs, this represents very stiff competition for Jak Paul and Nate Diaz’s card, and will likely affect how successful they are on August 5.
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