With just a week left before he was set to step into the ring, YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul has managed to find a replacement opponent, yet the former UFC fighter taking Gervonta Davis' place has issued a stern warning for the social media star.
Jake Paul was set to take on World Boxing Association lightweight champion Gervonta Davis in an exhibition bout on November 14, but the fight was shockingly called off after the YouTuber's opponent was caught in a troubling legal case.
Davis has now been accused of battery towards an ex-girlfriend, only months after another domestic violence case against a separate ex partner, who also happens to be the mother to two of his three children.
Paul's company, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), is handling the event and put out a statement detailing the decision to remove Davis from the card, asserting that the situation will be 'reviewed', but they "unequivocally condemn any form of violence."
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Davis' opponent was less kind when it came to his response, as Paul branded Davis a "walking piece of garbage" who was "an absolute nightmare" to work with, adding that "if you support this man you support the most vile sin a man can commit."
Many feared that the entire event would have to be called off due to the close proximity of the decision to remove Davis – especially since Paul himself apologized to the undercard – but it appears as if they have managed to find a familiar replacement in the eleventh hour.
As reported by the Independent, speculation that former UFC fighter Nate Diaz would replace Gervonta Davis as Paul's opponent appear to have been confirmed when the man himself claimed that he has 'accepted' a rematch, issuing the influencer a warning as a result.
Diaz made the 'announcement' on his personal Instagram page, where he shared an image of his previous fight with Paul – showing his punch connecting – with the caption: "Fight accepted. You're dead."
Paul and Diaz previously took each other on in the ring at 'Ready 4 War' in August 2023, with the former emerging victorious by decision. This wasn't the first time that Paul had successfully defeated an ex-UFC fighter, having beat Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley in 2022 and 2021 respectively, but it was one of his biggest fights at the time.
Where Paul has competed in five fights since winning at Ready 4 War, Diaz has only had a single fight – a victory against Jorge Masvidal in July 2024 – leading many to wonder whether he's ready to take on Paul again.
The comments underneath his Instagram post appear to point towards that too, as one user writes: "Dude you lost by a landslide in the first fight. Nobody actually wants to see this unless it's in MMA."
Another added that it was a "joke of a fight last time, he looked drunk and swung like 5 times the whole fight."