While Regis Prograis was preparing for a world title fight, he went to the gym and ran into former UFC star Nate Diaz.
At the time, Diaz was preparing for a sparring session, while Prograis wasn’t really trying to break a sweat – he just had dinner.
That all changed after Diaz’s original sparring partner failed, and Prograis was approached with an offer to interfere.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Prograis told MMA Fighting. “It only happened because his sparring partner didn’t show up, so they asked, ‘Do you want to spar?'” I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to cheer for Nate Diaz.” That’s how it happened.
“I just ate a huge, huge plate of shrimp noodles that my chef made for me. I wasn’t supposed to spar. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I was even supposed to spar, but when his sparring partner didn’t show up, they asked me. Nate was bigger than me.” by a lot, but I just wanted to test him and see what he had.”
Prograis usually competes between 135 and 140 pounds and gives up a lot of size to Diaz. This did not stop him from trading several rounds.
Despite knowing Diaz’s biography as a UFC fan, Prograis didn’t know what to expect in boxing, especially after training with MMA fighters in the past.
“He was very tough,” Progress said of Diaz. “I kind of knew that already. I knew Nate Diaz, I knew his reputation, so I knew he was going to be really hard. That’s kind of what he was. We just went and hung horns and tried to kill each other.”
“certainly [I was impressed]. I’ve sparred with a lot of MMA fighters, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Brazil, and their hands aren’t very good. Nate Diaz’s hand was rather good. He has a decent good standing game. He’s not at the level of a boxer, but for MMA his hands are really good. It definitely surprised me, and it was tough as nails. We definitely had a good sparring session.”
On August 5, Diaz moves on from MMA to his professional boxing debut against Jake Paul in a highly anticipated showdown in Dallas.
In terms of experience, Paul has competed seven times at the professional level, compiling a record of 6-1. Diaz has amassed a huge MMA resume with 34 fights, but he has never fought a professional boxing match. Diaz spent years working in the boxing ring, frequently working with multi-divisional champion Andre Ward.
Prograis couldn’t judge Paul like Diaz – they didn’t spend any time in the ring. Although, he admits, the 26-year-old Ohio native looks exactly like a fighter with seven fights in his career.
“I think he’s been in seven fights – he’s at the level of a seven-fight fighter,” Progress said of Diaz. “I think he fights like he’s had seven fights. He’s seven fights more popular than anyone else. He’s on the same level.”
“One thing I know about him, he works really hard, he’s got a good team around him. He’s got a lot of strength too. If I’m being honest, the skill just isn’t there. Will he ever be there? I don’t know. He’s got a lot of strength, he works hard.” Really, so those are two good traits about him.”
In a pure boxing match, skill for skill, Prograis definitely gives Diaz the talent advantage. But he couldn’t forget the size difference between the two fighters. The bout is being held at 185 pounds, which is where Paul has spent the majority of his boxing career so far. Meanwhile, Diaz routinely fought at 155 pounds in the UFC.
In terms of height and range, the fighters are relatively close in size. But it’s hard to imagine that Paul won’t end up as a much bigger fighter once he rehydrates from the weights. This is ultimately the reason why Prograis is leaning towards Paul winning. It’s not about being the better boxer, it’s just about the size advantage Paul will have over Diaz on fight night.
“Size wise, Jake Paul is a lot bigger,” said Prograis. “He’s naturally a 200-pound person. If they were the same size, even if Jack Paul had 10 pounds, I’d give everything to Nate Diaz. If they were the same size, I’d give it to Nate Diaz but the size difference is huge. That’s a big, big difference.”
“So I was leaning towards Jack Paul just because of the size. She’s really, really big. If they’re the same size, Nate Diaz is all the way. I think Nate would probably block him if they were the same size.”
On Saturday, Progress will defend his WBC light welterweight title against Danielito Zorrilla. But after that fight is over, he’ll be happy to take Diaz’s call if he wants some extra help getting ready for Paul.
“If I’m not in training camp, I’ll help him,” Progress said. “Of course, I will definitely do that.”