by Alex Mattis
A year ago, if one had predicted Paul Daley would be participating in a Zuffa-owned title fight, they would have been within the grasp of reality. Six months ago? Not a chance. As things will be in the MMA world, things can change in an instant. A little over a month ago, Zuffa purchased (“merged with”) the Strikeforce brand. In doing so, their 2nd event would headline the most public ally fired employee in UFC history, Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley.
Daley debuted for the promotion at UFC 103 when he stopped top-contender, Martin Kampmann in the 1st round. From there, ‘Semtex’ KO’d Dustin Hazlett in the 1st at UFC 108.
This brings us to the night of Daley’s firing. At UFC 113, Daley was layed n’ prayed upon by Josh Koscheck en route to a Kos decision victory. The frustration of the loss overcame Daley as after the final bell he stood up and threw a now legendary sucker punch at Koscheck. Following the event, Dana White stated that Daley would never work for the promotion again. Daley didn’t miss a step in moving on. Since his “release,” Daley has gone 4-0 in professional competition; finishing all but one fight. His destined-to-make-highlight-reels-for-years-to-come KO over Scott Smith earned him a crack at the seemingly unstoppable Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz.
However, following the “merger” rumors quickly spread that former UFC contender wasn’t even going to sign on for the welterweight title fight. “I honestly thought that I wasn’t going to take the fight.” Daley said on the media conference call for the event. “Having spoken to my manager and spoken to the people around me, it’s a big opportunity and to become Strikeforce champion, it’s a big fight regardless.”
“The way I saw it is Strikeforce was the biggest competition to the UFC and the UFC and Dana White kicking me out of the UFC… I was the rival to the UFC.” Daley said on his motivation following his public firing. “That’s what was driving me. I was in competition with them directly by being in Strikeforce.” Daley’s wins and name value kept him on a roll. “To me, that was proving my worth to the UFC as a fighter.”
While he may have been a first causality of the Zuffa war, Daley fears for the future of the sport. “As a fan of the martial arts, as a fan of MMA, I don’t like to see the way it’s going. In ten years times, people are going to be calling MMA ‘the UFC,’ and I think that’s bad.” Despite his feelings on the merger. Despite his feelings on Zuffa. Despite what could happen following this Saturday night. Paul Daley has only one thing on his mind. “The most important thing to me right now is beating Nick Diaz and becoming the champion.”
