"$12 million to go in there and fight Conor a third time" - Chael Sonnen expresses doubt over Nate Diaz making even half his Conor McGregor purse in boxing

Chael Sonnen claimed in a recent interview that he highly doubts that Nate Diaz would make as much money in boxing as he would have if he completed the trilogy with Conor McGregor in the UFC. Sonnen approximated that the Stockton native would have made $12 million if he had fought the Irishman a third time.

Combat sports fans and experts are speculating on what Nate Diaz's next move will be now that he's a free agent since successfully fighting out his contractual obligations with the UFC. The American's two fights against 'The Notorious' have propelled him to superstardom.

Chael Sonnen doubts that Nate Diaz will fight Jake Paul, and besides that fight, he does not see any viable option for a good payday. On MiddleEasy, he said:

"We've been saying that he would go and fight Jake Paul. And we did that for about a year. And all of a sudden Jake's like, 'I'll fight him' and Nate's like, 'I would never do that, that's stupid.' Fighters have the right to do that to gain headlines. But Nate doesn't have a history of that."

He added:

"I guess he's going to boxing. I mean, I can't imagine the money. He's probably steering about $12 million dollars to go and fight Conor McGregor a third time. I can't imagine there's that kind of money, even half of that in boxing."

Watch the interview from 12:00 below:

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Chael Sonnen weighs in on whether Nate Diaz will return to the UFC

Nate Diaz fought Tony Ferguson on a reshuffled card after his original fight with Khamzat Chimaev fell through. Diaz defeated 'El Cucuy' by submission in the fourth round and walked away as a free man after effectively fighting out his UFC contract.

However, Diaz never called an end to his career with the UFC and made a promise of returning back some day:

"I want to get out of the UFC for a minute and show all these UFC fighters how to take over and own up another sport. How you're supposed to do it. Conor McGregor didn't know how to do it. None of these other fighters know how to do it. I'm going to go out there, take over another profession and become the best at that. Show everybody I'm the best at that and then I'm going to be right the f**k back to get a motherfu**ing UFC title. The best title in the world."

Chael Sonnen claimed that Diaz is in a position to workout a one-off deal with the UFC:

"There could be a carve out opportunity. If his deal is up and he wants to come back to the boss and say, "I wanna be able to do this, give me a carve out, but I also want to have a contract with you." They could bring him in. They could have some fun. They could do it on a one-off. It's a unique situation and it's not a sustainable business practice that Dana can turn to, but there could be an exception and that exception could be Nate Diaz."