With all the hype surrounding the possibility of a fight between UFC champion Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, naturally other people from both sports are looking to get in on the action as well. Roy Jones still wants to fight Anderson Silva. Cub Swanson wants to fight Paulie Malignaggi. And now, a former two-division champion in boxing has called out a Diaz brother.

Jean Pascal, who has won titles at 168 pounds and held the IBF, WBC, The Ring, and lineal 175-pound titles in 2010 and 2011, pleaded his case to TMZ Sports, and didn’t pull any punches with his criticism of MMA in general and Nick Diaz in particular. He is interested in the fight apparently because he wants to prove that UFC fighters can’t box:

"Of course, because UFC fighters are already saying they can fight, they can box. But I don't see that, and Nick Diaz talks a lot of trash. He's never had someone who can talk back to him like I can do.”

He then went the childish route with his criticism of the sport:

"They claim they can fight. They claim they can box. I don't claim that I can go to the floor. But anyway, to go on the ground with other men, that's not my thing. I'd rather go on the ground with a woman. To go on the floor with a man...I'm sorry, that's not my thing."

Pascal (31-4-1, 18 KO) is now 34, and has been stopped by Sergey Kovalev twice in the past two years. Many think he’s on the downside of what has been impressive career, and the Haitian-Canadian has been a steady box office draw in Montreal. He isn’t sure what round he could finish Diaz, but he did think it was a good idea to take a shot at the United States while egging his potential opponent on:

"Honestly I don't know (what round the fight would finish). But I'm pretty sure that I can whip his ass. Because I'm a fighter. I'm not a UFC wrestler. I'm fighting with my fists. We're standing up and we've got boxing rules. Boxing is an art. I can tell Diaz to come out of your redneck country and fight me in a real city like Montreal. That sh-t can be sold out.

"One thing I know is that Nick Diaz never held a real belt like this," Pascal said as he showed off a plethora of boxing titles. "See that? You've never held a belt that people care about. That's what I'm talking about. And then they claim that they can beat a boxer? Come on guys. So stop talking sh-t, let's do it like real men. Simple and easy, right?

"I'm pretty sure this guy stays quiet because he's a coward, he's not a real man. He's not a real fighter, he's not a real soldier."

Diaz (26-9, 2 NC, 7-6, 1 NC UFC) hasn’t fought since a loss to Anderson Silva in early 2015 that was subsequently flipped to a No Contest after both men failed drug tests. Diaz has been eligible to fight for a while now, but according to UFC president Dana White, he “keeps turning down fights”. Will boxing be the thing that coaxes Diaz off the sidelines?