Bellator 134: Paul Daley Is Back, What Took so Long?

Welcome back, Paul Daley.
You punched your own ticket out. But now, you’re back on American soil, back on basic cable, back below the brighter sections of the limelight. For fight fans, that’s cause for a tip of the cap—and a scratch of the head….

Welcome back, Paul Daley.

You punched your own ticket out. But now, you’re back on American soil, back on basic cable, back below the brighter sections of the limelight. For fight fans, that’s cause for a tip of the cap—and a scratch of the head.

When he takes the cage this Friday to face Andre Santos at Bellator 134, the British welterweight (35-13-2) will still be fairly young at 32. With 26 career knockouts to his name, including in each of his last six victories, he still seems to have the same things going for him that he did before he was banished to the MMA hinterlands nearly five years ago.

Still the same Semtex in his hands. Still the same quotatiousness in front of the microphone. Still the same winning ways.

So where has he been? And perhaps more importantly, why? And why is he back? Is that a good thing?

It all starts with some sort of rumination on how one split second of impulse can change a life forever. Or one punch, to be specific. In that sense, Paul Daley is sort of the Kermit Washington of MMA.

In 2010, Josh Koscheck was a brilliant plume in any fighter’s cap. And there was no question that at UFC 113, he was the biggest opponent of Daley’s career. Daley likes to knock people out. But being the elite fighter that he was, Koscheck knew that and used his top-level wrestling to immobilize Daley and his power, stubbing him out like a cheap cigar for three full rounds.

Koscheck—never the world’s most beloved fighter either among fans or other fighters—allegedly whispered a lot of smack to Daley in the final moments of the affair.

After the final horn, Daley, frustrated eight ways from Sunday, sucker-punched Koscheck in plain view of everyone who cared to be viewing. It was a bad move. It was a stupid move. It was the wrong thing to do.

And at the post-fight news conference, the axe fell, with UFC President Dana White issuing a lifetime ban. 

“He’s done,” White said at the time. “I don’t give a s–t if he’s the best 170-pounder in the world. He’ll never come back here again.”

Daley first denied the move then—in the face of White’s announcement and, presumably, the video evidence—issued a lengthy apology.

I would like to apologise to the UFC and the Athletic Commission for what I’ve done as well as all the fans and sponsors that support me. I would also like to offer my sincerest apologies to Josh Koscheck who did not deserve the cheap shot I threw. … I fully deserve to be punished for what I did and hope that everyone I have disappointed can forgive my rash decision. … It will be a long road back from where I am now to earning the trust and respect of the UFC and the MMA fans that have supported me for so long, I know I’ve let you all down but I’m determined to make it up to you all.

A long road, indeed. There was a fight in Australia, then one in Amarillo, Texas. Then Strikeforce snapped him up. That was a good run until UFC parent company Zuffa bought and liquidated Strikeforce, and Daley was back on the sidewalk.

He bounced around a little more until in 2012, he debuted for Bellator, winning that debut by first-round TKO. But that grounded to a halt almost as soon as it began, with allegations of Daley’s involvement in a bar fight leading to his release from the promotion. 

What did or didn’t happen in that bar remains murky, but the charges against Daley were dropped. Nevertheless, Bellator, then under the leadership of Bjorn Rebney, claimed that ongoing visa difficulties would make it hard for Daley to fight in America, thus justifying his release.

Fast-forward to 2014 and new Bellator regime under Scott Coker. One of the first moves of that new leadership was for Coker—who had helmed Strikeforce during Daley’s tenure there—to sign Daley.

So what about those visa issues?

“You tell me,” Daley said Monday on The MMA Hour broadcast with host Ariel Helwani. “It’s like I was dealing with spoiled children. Because I’m a little hard to deal with, they were trying to ice me out. There was no bar fight. If there was, how did I get my visa again?”

Who knows? Daley, for one, doesn’t seem to be holding any grudges. He told MMA Junkie that he has reached out to the UFC more than once for his job back, though, so far, the requests have fallen on at least semi-deaf ears. That’s an interesting thing given the UFC’s stated interest in granting that mythical second chance we all like to talk about.

It gave it to Chael Sonnen. It gave it to Thiago Silva, who was arrested by a SWAT team after domestic abuse and murder allegations. Though Silva was later re-released after additional allegations surfaced, White said at the time of the reinstatement that Silva “deserve[d] to be able to make a living again” in the UFC.

There’s also the case of Anthony Johnson, who faced his own domestic abuse issues. And these are just two of the nearly countless other fighters who have faced various legal troubles, failed drug tests and the like but have been later welcomed back. There doesn’t seem to be a ton of consistency in how these things are decided and enforced.

In any case, Daley seemed content during his interview Monday, where he spoke to Helwani from Miami. He was taking the chance to stop in on some old friends, like the Blackzilians and American Top Team camps in Florida.

“Just burning some calories,” he noted.

Leave the larger questions for another day, then. For now, Daley is happy he’s back. Fans should be, too. And if he brings his knockout prowess to bear at Bellator 134, he might make his new employers the happiest of all. Their investment could look pretty darn smart in pretty short order.

“I like Scott Coker,” Daley said Monday. “He knows my positives, and he knows my negatives.”

Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.

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