Paul Daley

Paul Anthony Daley (born 21 February 1983) is an English professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently competing in Bellator's Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Daley has formerly competed for the UFC, Cage Rage, Final Fight Championship, Strikeforce, EliteXC, ShoXC, BAMMA, Cage Warriors, Cage Contender, Shark Fights, Pancrase, and Impact FC. Daley is the former Cage Rage World Welterweight Champion and the former Cage Rage British Welterweight Champion.

Born and raised in England to parents from the Caribbean, Daley began training in karate at the age of eight before later transitioning into Muay Thai. Daley is also a former member of the British Army, having served as a reconnaissance driver for the Household Cavalry. At the age of 18, Daley began training in mixed martial arts.

Early career

Daley made his professional debut in 2003 and compiled a record of 2-2 before signing with upstart promotion Cage Rage.

Cage Rage

After picking up a TKO win over Jess Liaudin, Daley fought for the Cage Warriors Welterweight Championship against Abdul Mohamed. The fight ended in a draw after five rounds. Daley next fought veteran Paul Jenkins at Cage Rage 11 for the Cage Rage British Welterweight Championship, a rematch of their fight at Cage Warriors 8 which ended in a knockout win for Daley. The two fought to a draw in the rematch.

Daley then compiled a record of 10-4-2 and was coming off of a win over UFC veteran Dave Strasser before being offered another shot at the Cage Rage British Welterweight Championship against Ross Mason. Daley won via majority decision, becoming the new Cage Rage British Welterweight Champion.

After defending his title twice and picking up a knockout win over Duane Ludwig in Strikeforce, Daley was set to make his third title defense in a title unification against Cage Rage World Welterweight Champion Mark Weir at Cage Rage 23. Daley won via second-round knockout, therefore holding both titles. After two more knockout wins in the ShoXC and Cage Warriors promotions, Daley fought Jake Shields at EliteXC: Heat for the EliteXC Welterweight Championship. Daley lost via armbar submission in the second round, snapping a six-fight winning streak. Daley then compiled a record of 3-1 in his next four fights with two appearances for the MFC in Canada.

Daley was set to fight Jay Hieron at Affliction: Trilogy, but the bout was scrapped due to Affliction Entertainment folding.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

He later signed a four-fight contract with the UFC, following Affliction's collapse. Daley's first fight was scheduled to be on the preliminary card of UFC 103 against Brian Foster, which was due to air on ESPN (UK), prior to the main card. However, on 4 September, it was announced that Paul Daley had agreed to step in for Mike Swick, who suffered an injury during training and was unable to fight top contender Martin Kampmann at UFC 103.

In his UFC debut, Daley put in an aggressive performance, defeating Kampmann via technical knockout due to a barrage of punches.

Daley was expected to face Carlos Condit on 2 January 2010 at UFC 108. However, Condit would be forced off the card after suffering a severe cut to his hand. He was replaced by Dustin Hazelett.

After failing to make the stipulated 170 lb for the Hazelett fight, Daley was fined 10% of his fight purse. The bout was fought at a catchweight of 172 lbs. Early in the fight Daley dropped Hazelett with a left hook, then followed up with additional punches on the ground knocking Hazelett out cold.

Welterweight contendership

At UFC 113, on 8 May 2010, Daley was placed to fight Josh Koscheck, with the winner destined to become the next challenger against Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship and the opportunity to coach against St-Pierre on the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Koscheck controlled all three rounds, keeping the fight on the ground and neutralizing Daley's striking. After the end of the third and final round, Daley hit Koscheck in the face with a left hook sucker punch. Referee Dan Miragliotta swung Daley around and pinned him against the fence to subdue him. In an interview at the conclusion of the event, UFC president Dana White announced that he was banishing Daley from the UFC for life. White said, "There's no excuse for that. These guys are professional athletes. You don't ever hit a guy blatantly after the bell like that, whether you're frustrated or not." He added, "I don't care if he fights in every show all over the world and becomes the best and everybody thinks he's the pound-for-pound best in the world, he will never fight in the UFC ever again." White also said that when he spoke to Daley after the fight, he claimed he didn't hear the bell.

Daley apologized for his actions after returning to the United Kingdom, saying that Koscheck's trash-talking pushed him over the edge, but that there was "no excuse" for his "rash decision."He was suspended 30 days by the Quebec Athletic Commission.

BAMMA

Daley was supposed to face Yuya Shirai for the BAMMA welterweight belt, but came in over the 170-pound limit for a title bout. The two still headlined the card, but it became a non-title fight. Daley dropped Shirai immediately with a jab, which was his first strike in the fight, and later he dropped him again with an uppercut and left hook before finishing the fight with vicious ground and pound.

Strikeforce

Following his win over Masvidal, Daley signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce and made his promotional debut against Scott Smith on 4 December 2010 at Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II. Smith charged forward as Daley connected with an overhand left hook, sending Smith unconscious face first into the canvas at 2:09 of round 1. In the post fight interview, he called out lightweight K.J. Noons.

After his victory over Scott Smith, Daley received the title shot against Nick Diaz.

Daley fought Nick Diaz on 9 April 2011 at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley and lost. Daley dropped Diaz twice in the first round of the scheduled five round fight. Daley then fell to the ground after a quick exchange, with the referee ending the bout three seconds from the end of the first round, marking the first time Daley has been stopped by strikes.

After a 3-month hiatus, Daley was expected to face Evangelista Santos at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, but Santos was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury and was replaced with Tyron Woodley. The winner of this fight was expected to fight for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship against a fighter yet to be named. He lost the bout via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 each in favour of Woodley.

Daley fought against Kazuo Misaki at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey. He lost the bout via split decision.

After some months, Daley requested to be released from his Strikeforce contract, citing lack of frequent fights as being the reason for him wanting to leave.

Independent promotions

He defeated Daniel Acacio at an Impact Fighting Championships event in Sydney, Australia. Speaking after his victory, Daley revealed that he expects to sign with Strikeforce or DREAM "real soon."

He then faced Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley in September 2010, and won via unanimous decision. Before the fight, he weighed in three-quarters of a pound overweight and was forced to give up 15% of his "show purse".

Daley was next scheduled to fight twice in just over five weeks. The first bout was against UFC veteran Jordan Radev at BAMMA 7, and the second bout was against UFC and MFC veteran Luigi Fioravanti at Ringside MMA 12 - Daley vs. Fioravanti. Daley won both via unanimous decision.

Daley was going to fight in a kickboxing bout at UCMMA 26 against Luke Sines for his 'UK1' Welterweight Championship, however, due to contract obligations, Daley had to pull out of the fight due to contract problems with Strikeforce.

Bellator MMA

On 15 June, just a week after being released from his Strikeforce contract, Daley signed with Bellator Fighting Championships. Daley had a successful debut at Bellator 72 against journeyman Rudy Bears in a welterweight fight, defeating him by first-round TKO due to strikes.

Daley was next scheduled to fight at Bellator 79 in Rama, Ontario, Canada on 2 November against Kyle Baker, but the fight never materialized.

Daley was selected in a fan vote to fight War Machine in the first Bellator fight to be shown on Spike TV, however injury forced his opponent out of the up-coming Welterweight tournament. Daley himself was then removed from the tournament after being barred from entering the United States after being arrested in December in relation to an alleged bar fight in his native England. He faced up to two years in prison if convicted. Daley later claimed the charges had been thrown out for lack of evidence, clearing him to apply for a visa to compete within Bellator's ninth season.

On 25 July, Bellator announced that Daley had been released from the organization due to ongoing legal troubles. Bellator officials had learned that the charges in the bar fight had not been dropped after all. In fact, Daley had pleaded guilty to one count of assault and two counts of obstructing an officer. The violent nature of the incident, combined with the prospect of continued visa problems due to the fact he was now a convicted felon, made Bellator officials decide to cut ties with Daley.

Return to BAMMA

On 6 August 2013, it was reported that Daley had signed a 3 fight, 12-month contract with BAMMA. His first fight back in the British promotion was against Romario Manoel da Silva at BAMMA 14 on 14 December. He defeated da Silva by KO at 1:42 of the 2nd round, after dominating the 1st round.

He TKO'd Alexander Surjko at Legend 3: Pour Homme in Milan, Italy on 5 April 2014, dropping the Russian three times in the third round and forcing referee Joop Ubeda to stop the fight.

At BAMMA 16, Daley defeated Marinho Moreira da Rocha by knockout on 13 September 2014.

Return to Bellator

On 21 July 2014, Bellator MMA announced that they signed Paul Daley along with Melvin Manhoef.

Daley was expected to challenge Douglas Lima for the Bellator Welterweight Championship on 27 February 2015 at Bellator 134. However, Lima pulled out of the fight due to injury. Daley instead faced André Santos. He won the fight by unanimous decision.

Daley faced Dennis Olson at Bellator 140 on 17 July 2015. After a back-and-forth first round, he won the fight via TKO in the second round.

In his third fight for Bellator in less than a year, Daley faced Andy Uhrich in the main event at Bellator 148 on January 29, 2016. He won the fight via knockout due to a right uppercut two minutes into the first round.

Daley's next fight was originally scheduled to be against old rival Josh Koscheck in a rematch at Bellator London as the co-main event on July 16, 2016. On June 6 Koscheck withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons and will be replaced in the bout by former Bellator Welterweight Champion Douglas Lima.

A welterweight bout between Daley and Derek Anderson at Bellator 163 was scrapped on the day of the event after Daley fell ill from effects of his weight cut.

Daley next faced Brennan Ward in the co-main event at Bellator 170 on January 21, 2017. He won the fight in spectacular fashion, hurting Ward with a spinning back elbow and then knocking him out with a flying knee in the first round.

He scored five kickboxing wins since returning to kickboxing in 2014. This time he defeated Latvian champion Artem Mironcev on 16 August in Bournemouth, England at the Phoenix Fight Night 3 event. The referee stopped the fight in round 3 by TKO.

Daley has had a history of missing weight in fights, with the BAMMA 7 weigh-in marking the 6th time within the last 14 fights that Daley had missed weight for a fight. After the Diaz fight, he vowed that he would improve his diet to help him cut weight correctly for his future fights. However, Daley yet again missed weight for his BAMMA 7 fight.

Mixed martial arts

• Cage Rage Championships
  • Cage Rage World Welterweight Championship (One time; Last)
  • Cage Rage British Welterweight Championship (One time)
• Strikeforce
  • 2010 Knockout of the Year vs. Scott Smith on 4 December
• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Knockout of the Night (One time)
  • 2009 Newcomer of the Year
• FX3
  • FX3 Welterweight Championship (One time)
• Sherdog
  • 2010 All-Violence Third Team

Kickboxing

• 2014 Contender Promotions Kickboxing World Welterweight Champion
• 2008 King of The Ring World Muay Thai Welterweight Champion
• King of The Ring European Muay Thai Champion

• "Ten Best - The Newcomers of 2009". UFC.