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Former UFC stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal have locked in their next fight.
But instead of stepping into the Octagon again, the pair will square off in a boxing match in early June.
Masvidal and Diaz will fight in a 10-round boxing match on June 1 at the Kia Forum in Southern California, the fighters announced Wednesday. It marks their first fight since Masvidal beat Diaz via a fourth-round TKO (doctor’s stoppage due to a cut) at UFC 244 in 2019 in New York. The fighters will compete at 175 pounds.
Masvidal retired from mixed martial arts last April after his loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, which marked his fourth straight loss. He finished with a 35-17 overall record, and has since been promoting various fights throughout the sport.
While he is still under contract with the UFC, the company approved him to take the fight against Diaz. It will mark his second boxing match, following a win in 2005 over Joseph Benjamin.
Diaz racked up a 22-13 career record in the UFC, though his last win came over Tony Ferguson in 2022. He has since left the UFC and is now a free agent. He made his boxing debut last fall, but fell via unanimous decision to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in August.
“Nate’s a dead man walking,” Masvidal said in a statement. “I can’t wait to prove that last time was no fluke. He got saved by the referee. Now we are boxing, which he says is his forte, but he’s got no shot at beating me. I’m not going to give him an inch in that ring to even breathe. If he thought our MMA match was bad, this is going to be much worse. I’m going to drown him. I want to put away any talk that him and I are the same, or that the referee saved the day. All of that talk ends June 1. Violence and throwing hands are in both of our bloods but as I proved before, I’m a far superior athlete and I’m a meaner fighter. When June 1 comes I’ll put all unanswered questions to rest, live for the world to see.”