Former UFC fighter Nate Diaz took on Jake Paul in a celebrity boxing match on August 5 inside the American Airlines Arena in Dallas Texas. While Diaz does not have pro-boxing experience, he is coming off a submission win over Tony Ferguson in the UFC 279 main event. However, Jake Paul, on the other hand, lost his last fight to Tommy Fury, the first loss of his boxing career.
Hence, the loss was regarded as a potential career-ender for The Problem Child. But proving everyone wrong, Paul managed to secure the Diaz fight despite the latter having proposals from other organizations. Despite a slow start to the build-up to this fight, things have picked up quite significantly during the fight week. It has certainly reflected in the fan interest as well.
YOU HEARD HIM. 🗣️
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 6, 2023
Watch #PaulDiaz LIVE NOW on DAZN PPV 💥@jakepaul | @natediaz209 | @mostvpromotions | @realfightinc | @celsiusofficial | #CELSIUSLiveFit | #CELSIUSBrandPartner pic.twitter.com/NbeYvMDMs4
Audiences, who wanted to watch the fight from the comfort of their home, could order the PPV for a cost of $59.99. It was available for purchase both via ESPN+ and DAZN. However, the local fans who wanted to see their favorite fighters and influencers live in person had to spend a minimum of $32. However, that was just the starting range for the ticket prices, and people who wanted to witness the action up and close had to spend $3,500 for ringside tickets.
Ahead of the event, a report from Boxing Scene suggested that the bout would bring a decent amount of revenue for the organizers. According to Jake Paul’s business partner and the co-founder of his Most Valuable Promotions, Nakisa Bidarian, this particular event was expected to have the second highest-gate revenue for American Airlines Arena. Ironically, the first spot is occupied by a UFC event, UFC 277.
The particular card sold 19,442 tickets and had a gate revenue of $4,555,691. If the Jake Paul fight came anywhere near the UFC card headlined by Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena, it certainly was a successful night for all the parties involved.
Update: After the fight, it was announced that the event had a gate of $3.1 million. The boxing extravaganza has fallen short of the $4.55 million gate record set by UFC 277.
How many PPVs have Jake Paul vs Nate Diaz sold?
Both Jake Paul and Nate Diaz are bonafide PPV stars. Diaz has been a part of a number of PPVs that have crossed the 1 million PPV buy rate threshold. For example, both of his bouts against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 and UFC 202 have sold 1.5 million and 1.65 million respectively. His last PPV main event fight was against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279, after his original opponent Khamzat Chimaev missed weight.
While PPV buys for that card are not public yet, the event generated over $5.67 million in gate revenue. Jake Paul, on the other hand, has been going through a bit of a slump in terms of his PPV buy rate figures. After bursting through the doors with a viral KO of Nate Robinson and then proceeding to KO Ben Askren, Paul’s fights have taken a nosedive in terms of financials.
While his first bout against Tyron Woodley sold 500,000 PPVs, the rematch against the former UFC welterweight champ reportedly brought in only 65,000 PPV buys. His much-anticipated fight against the former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva also posted disappointing numbers as it raked in somewhere between 200-300k PPV buys. However, there was a big uptick in the business for his last bout against Tommy Fury.
Despite the loss for Paul, the event saw a reported 850,000 PPV buys. So the question is, how many PPVs will Jake Paul vs Nate Diaz sell? Fans will find out in due course.
