After nearly two decades competing as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Paul Daley will be retiring from the hurt business. “Semtex” announced during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour that his final fight would be taking place at the upcoming Bellator MMA event in London, England on May 13, 2022.
“May 13 will be my last one, it will be my retirement fight. After many years in the game, hours on the road, hours in the gym. The years have caught up with me, now I wake up every morning with a bad back and I am just tired,” said Daley.
“I have put in a lot of time in this sport and I am in a position to retire, fortunately. I don’t want to be one of those fighters who is getting knocked out all of the time by the younger guys. I want to be a guy who goes out when I want to go out.”
Daley — who was born in Nottingham, England — says it was important for him to have his final fight in the UK, despite the fact that he was ready to hang it up a year ago. But since COVID-19 prevented Bellator from staging any events overseas, he stuck around and took a fight against Jason Jackson, which he lost via unanimous decision at Bellator 260 in mid-2021.
As far as who he will face in his retirement fight, “Semtex” says he isn’t at liberty to say because it is not a done deal, though he did say it will be against a “young gun” who will be making his debut for the promotion.
Amassing a record of 43-18-2 as a pro, Daley has competed all over the world in the biggest organizations around including Cage Rage, Strikeforce, Bellator, and a short stint with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For the last six years, Daley has called Bellator home and has an overall record of 9-5 with the Viacom-owned promotion.
During his run as one of the most exciting strikers in the game, Daley took on some of the best the sport has to offer including Tyron Woodley, Nick Diaz (see it), Rory McDonald, Michael Page and Jorge Masvidal, just to name a few.
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