The Bellator ranks have taken a big boost in 2016, with multiple big names from the UFC crossing over. Former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson is one such popular fighter, three-time middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen also signed with BMMA this year. Quinton Jackson, Phil Davis, Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Koscheck, the list goes on. After a number of rather WWE-style main event shows in 2015, it appears Bellator might finally be getting their act together.
That said, the recent and rather hilarious ‘debate’ between Sonnen and Ortiz was both entertaining and cringe-worthy in equal measure. Two fighters who both competed in the UFC welterweight division, and are now house under the Bellator MMA banner are Rory MacDonald and Paul Daley. Although ‘Red King’ had considerably more success in the UFC, both he and ‘Semtex’ are ever popular in the MMA fandom.
Similarities
After being pegged for title glory from the early stages of his UFC career, it never came to be for Rory MacDonald. The Canadian fighting phenom faced some bumps in the road when he joined the promotion as a fresh faced 21-year old. His Tristar training partner and friend Georges St-Pierre was the welterweight king at that time, and their relationship meant they would not fight each other. Once ‘Rush’ retired in late 2013, MacDonald had his chance at UFC title glory, losing a brutal and bloody was to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189.
Facing Stephen Thompson in his return, ‘Red King’ did not look the same, and had an even tougher opponent to battle after ‘Wonderboy.’ Unhappy with his new UFC contract offer, MacDonald tested free agency and was swiftly scooped up by Bellator. The similarity in the case of Daley is a thin one, but ‘Semtex’ was also once labelled as a hot prospect in the UFC. He alsop faced adversity, but that came because of a sucker punch on Josh Koscheck after their fight at UFC 113. Now pretty much ancient history, Daley is heading towards the 60-fight mark in his MMA career, and tells MMAJunkie.com that he’d like to cross paths with MacDonald in Bellator:
Paul Daley vs. Rory MacDonald?
“Definitely it’s a fight that interests me. I would love to test my skills against a guy that’s challenged for the UFC title. It would be a great fight. He’s the new prodigy after B.J. Penn. It would be great because he has a name, and it would be good to test my skills against him. We’ll see what happens. I think he will probably go straight for the title. We’ll see. If the fight is offered, I’ll take that.”
Rivalry With Koschek?
“I think he’s past that – I think Koscheck is past it,” Daley said. “It’s quiet on the Koscheck front, and I’m not interested in calling him out or anything. I just don’t think the guy’s head is in the game. He’s quiet, and I think he’s a guy that’s going to stay there. More power to him. If you’re not really feeling it, then it’s dangerous to accept such a fight against me.
“I’m past that fight. There are many more interesting fights out there for me.”
“I just want to stay active, and it’s one of the things I’ve loved to do in my career,” Daley said. “There are a lot of opportunities to stay active with Bellator and stay in the cage fighting.”
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