DAZN PPV will distribute YouTube star Jake Paul’s next foray into the boxing ring against former UFC and mixed martial arts champion Nate Diaz in an August 5 pay-per-view boxing event.

Paul, who most recently suffered a split decision loss to Tommy Fury this past February, will look to rebound against Diaz, who is making his boxing debut after a decorated combat sports career. 

“We are incredibly excited to have this mega fight on DAZN around the world,” DAZN North America CEO Joe Markowski said in a statement. “One of the biggest names in boxing meeting one of the biggest names in MMA makes for a truly unique matchup on a global scale.”

The event is the latest in a busy PPV boxing schedule that has already featured three PPV boxing events in the first quarter of 2023. Also, Showtime has an April 22 PPV bout scheduled between undefeated fighters Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. 

In addition, a much-anticipated bout between welterweight championship unification fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence is slated for June, according to published reports. 

Sports streaming service DAZN said its decision to take a knee and delay the start of its Nov. 2 Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev boxing match until after the end of the competing UFC 244 event actually garnered additional signups for its event. 

DAZN officials said the sports streaming service teamed with the UFC to delay the start of DAZN's light heavyweight championship boxing event at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena until after 1 a.m. on the East Coast. As a result of the delay, DAZN executive vice president North America Joseph Markowski said a "significant" number of fight fans signed up for the $20 per month DAZN service after watching the Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal UFC 244 main event bout, although he would not reveal specific numbers. 

“We worked directly with [UFC president Dana White] to stagger the fights in an effort to serve the largest possible number of those fans,” said Markowski. “We agreed that the UFC fight would go first. Ultimately we saw a significant surge in subscription signups and audience growth between the end of the UFC fight and the beginning of Canelo's fight." 

While UFC fans watched Masvidal defeat Diaz after a controversial stoppage on cuts three rounds into their much-anticipated fight, DAZN subscribers were forced to endure a more than 90-minute delay between the co-feature — a first round knockout by emerging lightweight boxer Ryan Garcia — and the main event.

UFC president Dana White, speaking during the UFC 244 post-fight press conference, said that DAZN and the MGM called him Saturday night and requested to show the UFC 244 main event to boxing fans at the live venue who were waiting for the Alvarez-Kovalev fight to begin.

“We got it worked out … to the point where fans could see both fights,” White said.

Alvarez — fighting in the third bout of an exclusive 11-fight deal with DAZN — eventually knocked out Kovalev in the 11th round to take the light heavyweight championship belt.

Several industry observers believe that DAZN's move relegated the sport of boxing to second class status compared to mixed-martial arts.

Markowski dismissed any criticism of its move, adding that DAZN would do it again if a similar situation occurred in the future.

“There are finite Saturday nights over the course of the year, and occasionally there will be clashes,” Markowski said. “We’ll always work on behalf of our existing and potential subscribers to maximize the audience for every DAZN broadcast.”