Paul Daley, as most of us know, is not the best fighter in the world when it comes to making weight.Since 2010, Daley has missed a regulated weight four times, in bouts against Dustin Hazelett, Jorge Masvidal, Yuya Shirai and Jordan Radev. He’s done so…
Paul Daley, as most of us know, is not the best fighter in the world when it comes to making weight.
Since 2010, Daley has missed a regulated weight four times, in bouts against Dustin Hazelett, Jorge Masvidal, Yuya Shirai and Jordan Radev. He’s done so in three different companies: the UFC, Shark Fights and BAMMA.
That makes it all the more curious why Daley has chosen to sign with Bellator Fighting Championship and start fighting in their signature tournaments. Daley was granted his release from Zuffa-owned Strikeforce last week.
Bellator continued its aggressive plunge into the free agent pool, signing UFC and Strikeforce veteran Paul Daley.
The promotion confirmed the addition of the British knockout artist to MMA Fighting on Friday.
Daley will make his organizational debut at Bellator 72 on July 20.
The news is interesting because participants in Bellator tournaments must be capable of making weight every four weeks or so over the duration of the tournament. Daley hasn’t been able to shed pounds even when he has eight weeks to prepare. Attempting to do the same thing once a month sounds like a recipe for disaster.
I’m not saying Daley isn’t capable of making weight. He’s done so more times than not over the course of his career.
But he’s going to have to dedicate himself to the cause. Take the time before his actual tournament debut—which won’t be his July 20 organizational debut—and shed weight.
He needs to get to a manageable level and stay there during the entirety of the tourney.
If he doesn’t, he won’t end up embarrassing himself. He’s proven over the past few years that doing his part and making weight isn’t all that important to him. But he’ll end up embarrassing Bellator if he comes into the tournament, makes it to the finals and then comes in overweight.
The UFC is the premier organization in all of MMA. If you have ever watched The Ultimate Fighter, you know just how much it means to a fighter to break into the organization.However, the success it takes to break into the organization pales in comparis…
The UFC is the premier organization in all of MMA. If you have ever watched The Ultimate Fighter, you know just how much it means to a fighter to break into the organization.
However, the success it takes to break into the organization pales in comparison with the consistency and success it takes for fighters to stay. The UFC has no qualms about cutting a fighter that isn’t performing or happens to do wrong by Dana White.
Even the most entrenched fighters that have spent years in the organization have been cut with a bad performance or a few incidents working against them. However, the organization has also shown that they are capable of welcoming fighters back to the octagon if they are able to prove their worth outside of the organization.
Nick Diaz and Dan Henderson are higher-profile examples of fighters that left the organization for different reasons but were able to earn their way back by being relevant with other organizations.
Most recently, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has tried to talk his way back into the organization. He claimed he could beat 80 percent of the UFC heavyweight roster and matches up best with No. 1 contender Alistair Overeem.
Former UFC middleweight contender Patrick Cote took exception to that route, directly calling out Sylvia on Twitter.
Cote expanded upon his hopes to return to the octagon in a recent interview with MMAWeekly.
I don’t have a lot of control about the decision who is going to put me back in the UFC. My only power I have is be in shape and win fights and that’s what I’m doing. Three wins in a row, and I’m going for a fourth one. The UFC asked us to go to somebody better than my last two opponents, and with a winning record, so that’s exactly what we’re doing,
With Cote’s point in mind, here are six former UFC fighters who need to win to make their way back to the UFC.
The Las Vegas lights softened the judges’ heads at UFC 143 to the point that Carlos Condit walked away with a win over Nick Diaz for the UFC’s interim welterweight title.Despite this technical blip, Nick Diaz is the No. 2 welterweight in the world and …
The Las Vegas lights softened the judges’ heads at UFC 143 to the point that Carlos Condit walked away with a win over Nick Diaz for the UFC’s interim welterweight title.
Despite this technical blip, Nick Diaz is the No. 2 welterweight in the world and will most likely dethrone Georges St-Pierre in early 2013.
The only real opponent for the Stockton bad boy is his affair with Mary Jane.
One of the more intriguing moments of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey came during the undercard welterweight bout between Paul “Semtex” Daley and PRIDE legend Kazuo Misaki.Misaki has gone through legendary wars during his fighting career in Japan. He was …
One of the more intriguing moments of Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey came during the undercard welterweight bout between Paul “Semtex” Daley and PRIDE legend Kazuo Misaki.
Misaki has gone through legendary wars during his fighting career in Japan. He was always a crowd favorite for his heart and ability to put on exciting fights. But few in the media, myself included, gave him much of a chance against Daley on Saturday night.
He’s old. He’s been through too many battles. His striking just wouldn’t be effective enough against Daley, and his takedown ability wouldn’t be enough to keep the fight on the ground, where he would be more effective.
We were wrong. Misaki used highly effective striking to keep Daley at bay throughout the fight. By the end of the final round, commentator Pat Miletich rightly pointed out that Misaki was “in Daley’s head,” and the Japanese star was awarded a decision win.
I can’t be Semtex all the time people, different fights call for a different approach. Sorry for those that felt cheated out of not seeing Semtex, but I feel being Semtex had an effect on the judges scores, because i didn’t come out swinging. He got the 1st round, I got the 2nd, and the 3rd, I feel through takedowns, ground control, effect defense, and scored the most damage while taking very little. The reason I back pedalled and kept it on the jab/counters in the 3rd is because I honestly thought I had won the fight. it was close, but I feel I won.
Losing a fairly close fight must be a terrible feeling, and this absolutely was a close fight. But Daley saying that he backpedaled in the third round because he thought he had the fight won? That’s not a smart decision because—as we’ve seen countless times throughout the last three years—you never know exactly what the judges are thinking.
It’s better to put an emphatic stamp on a performance than to ride it out under the impression that you’ve already won the thing.
And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)
The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.
After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.
And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)
The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.
After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.
For that matter, the victories from both Kazuo Misaki and Jacare Souza are significant for reasons other than a potential UFC call-up. After surprising Paul Daley with a diverse striking attack and surviving a nasty elbow from “Semtex”, Misaki pulled off the upset and won by split decision (don’t ask me what fight that third judge was watching). Even though Misaki doesn’t quite look ready for the UFC, Strikeforce actually has another competent challenger ready for him in Nate Marquardt, who holds two victories over Misaki in Pancrase. Pitting the two against each other makes sense, and should earn the winner a call-up to the majors. Likewise, Jacare displayed a much improved striking attack in his victory over Bristol Marunde. Given that his willingness to stand and trade punches with opponents essentially cost him his first fight against Luke Rockhold, it would be interesting to see how he matches up with the middleweight champion this time around. The bottom line here is that rather than shrugging our shoulders and asking “Okay, now what?”, there are logical matchups awaiting both fighters. It’s refreshing, to say the least.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t any reasons to keep being concerned for Strikeforce, as the event certainly produced some low points. After all of the talk about meaningful championship fights existing for Strikeforce, it’s sort of anti-climatic to bring up that Gilbert Melendez is going to fight Josh Thomson again, especially after his yawn-inducing fight against KJ Noons. Dana White’s recent announcement that he has essentially washed his hands of Strikeforce definitely doesn’t help matters either. And let’s not even start on how a major organization could allow a pedophile with white supremacist tattoos on television.
But after listening to Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier hype up their clash on May 19th- no matter how insignificant the heavyweight tournament may be at this point- I genuinely feel excited about an upcoming Strikeforce card. I am genuinely curious about future Strikeforce title fights, even if the men’s belts have become meaningless. It’s been a while since I’ve been optimistic about Strikeforce- that’s got to be worth something.
Welcome, friends, to the most bonerrific highly-anticipated women’s bantamweight fight in MMA history. Seven months after winning the Strikeforce 135-pound strap, Miesha Tate will attempt to make her first title defense against arm-snapping fire-cracker Ronda Rousey. And that’s just the cherry on top of a loaded fight card that also features two former Strikeforce champions (Josh Thomson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza), a pack of crowd-pleasing sluggers (Paul Daley, Scott Smith, KJ Noons), and the return of former PRIDE welterweight grand prix champion Kazuo Misaki.
Handling our liveblog for this evening is Steve Silverman, who will be posting round-by-round results for the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey main card after the jump starting at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please toss your own brilliant opinions and observations into the comments section.
Welcome, friends, to the most bonerrific highly-anticipated women’s bantamweight fight in MMA history. Seven months after winning the Strikeforce 135-pound strap, Miesha Tate will attempt to make her first title defense against arm-snapping fire-cracker Ronda Rousey. And that’s just the cherry on top of a loaded fight card that also features two former Strikeforce champions (Josh Thomson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza), a pack of crowd-pleasing sluggers (Paul Daley, Scott Smith, KJ Noons), and the return of former PRIDE welterweight grand prix champion Kazuo Misaki.
Handling our liveblog for this evening is Steve Silverman, who will be posting round-by-round results for the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey main card after the jump starting at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please toss your own brilliant opinions and observations into the comments section.
Mauro Ranallo … what a jive-ass putting on his phony radio voice…. No doubt that Miesha Tat and Ronda Rousey will put on a sterling show…
Tate is a very solid-looking fighter … and a stunning babe… and Rousey may not be ready for her just yet….
Jacare Souza and Bristol Marunde will get the night started….
Steve Silverman here and happy to be bringing the action to you ….
Marunde has won 9 of his last 10 fights….Souza is a take-down artist who will try to put Marunde on his back and punish him.
Souza trains with Anderson Silva, soyou know that makes him a real badass….
Jacare starts with a straight right and he is boxing early. … Marunde looking to switch between righty and southpaw…
Both fighters looking for an opening .. Hard right by Jacare and then a takedown. Marunde working a pyramid….
Short hard right by Jacare that drops Marunde… Jacare has his back… and is getting in knee strikes…Jacare domination in the first round..Marunde does very little damage as first round ends.
Jacare pounding away as Marunde covers up. Uppercuts and pounding punches…Strikes to back of head by Jacare and he breaks them….
Round 2….
Roundhouse right by Marunde misses badly and then lands a short right and then another….
Jacare with two big kicks and Marunde has his face against the cage. Jacare gets his back but Marunder escapes….
Jacare is very patient….and that doesn’t make for a lot of action…but he is in charge.Knee by Jacare to the chin of Marunde
Kick and then left-hand body shot to Jacare. Then another. both are short and powerful…Nice kick by Marunde. Right hand by Jacare…
Two overhand rights by Jacare…and a hard takedown by Jacare….
Round 3…
Jacare takes Marunde down and is on his back. Jacare trying to get his right hand loose…
Marunde is cut high on the forehead. Jacare delivering right hands to Marunde and he is getting hit with lot fo punches….
Jacare getting in his hook and he is punishing Marunde. He can’t get loose and is just a defensive fighter. Then Jacare gets the side-triangle choke and Marunde submits….
Jacare was able to win this fight without taking any real punishment himself. He trapped Marunde’s arm and choked him out….
Sayers brings a record of 5-2 into this fight while Smith comes in with a record of 18-9 and 1 no contest…He has lost three in a row…
Smith’s a little chubby around the middle; Sayers with a 3-inch reach advantage…
Sayers with a straight right hand… another right hand and then throws Smith on his back. H e sinks in a hook and starts punishing….
Great throw down by Sayers…. gets in guillotine choke and it’s over… Smith wins big….
CORRECTION… SAYERS WINS BIG….
Smith got thrown down and couldn’t react… Sayers started pounding and then got in his guillotine. Another first-round win by Sayers… All his fights are one-rounders, six wins and two losses…1:34 is the official time.
Smith looks absolutely done as he suffers his fourth straight loss. He offered no resistance…
Kazuo Miskai vs. Paul Daleyy coming up next….
Misaki is 24-11-2 and is from Tokyo….
Misaki has a big right hand but he likes to use takedowns…. Incredible cauliflower left ear…
Daley, from London, has won two fights in a row….However, he has problems with wrestlers and grapplers, so Misaki could give him a problem…
Daley tries a right roundhouse kick.. Daley with jabs, but thy are not landing…Misaki with overhand right….
Misaki drives through with takedown…Misaki lets him get back up. Right kick to midsection…
Misaki to body and then to head… Daley looks slow and wwkwrd. yo cna tll he’s strong but slow. Misaki hits him hard to jaw… Misaki taking charge….
Daley takes Misaki down but Misaki gets his legs around him and he is controlling from bottom. Daley gets in a couple of bombs at end of the round…
Round 2….
Jab and body kick by Misaki.. Knee by Misaki.
Daley having a hard time gtting his punches in. Misaki is a little quicker and making himself hard to hit…. Misaki getting better of exchanges… Daley takes down Misaki but Misaki is comfortable….
Daley trying to work over the ribs… ref calls for more action… wild left by Daley but it misses. Misaki gives up his back.
Misaki flips positions and he is on top in last minute..ref breaks them because action is nil..Misaki with overhand right and then a kick.
Round 3
Daley needs a big round to win this fight… right kick by Misaki…Left jab by Daley, good counter by Misaki….
Daley with a couple of left jabs and then throws Misaki down….elbow by Daley and Misaki is cut badly…
Bad cut over Misaki’s left eye but doctor allows fight to continue… Complete bloodbath…
Daley looks tired. He has a target in that cut to go after but Misaki is coming back after Daley. Misaki also has a broken nose but he is not backing down going into final minute.
Daley gets takedown but Misaki gets right up. Daley looks so tired but he tris to rally with takedown and he doesn’t get it….
It’s over and it will go to scorecards….
Daley did so much damage with a big elbow. He ripped a big cut and also broke Misaki’s nose. Misaki seemed to get in most of the other damaging blows…
Misaki will need stitches to get that cut closed… waiting on decision….
stats are all in favor of Misaki…and Misaki gets the decision….
It is a split decision … Misaki controlled much of the fight … except for getting cut badly. But Misaki wins….
Next fight….
Josh Thomson (18-3-1) vs K.J. Noons (10-3)
Thomson is a great grappler while Noons wants to stay on his feet…
Ronda Rousey looked she wanted to hammer Heidi Androl during interview… Rousey looks like she means business….Does she have enough to throw at Tate?
Noons and Thomson are good friends outside the ring….
Just about ready to go…
Round 1 coming….
Thomson with a front kick to the jaw….Thomson a bit quicker….
Thomson push kicks are dangerous… Thomson looking for a takedown…Noons measuring him and trying to get in his jab….
Thomson gets the takedown and he is working to keep control…Noons trying to get back to his feet…
Noons looks comfortable sitting and ref may break them up for lack of action. Noons trapped on side of cage….
Thomson in control but not getting in many shots…fans booing because there’s not enough action…
Round 2 is coming and the fans did not like Round 1…slight advantage for Thomson…
Superman punch by Noons but it doesn’t do much damage… Thomson slips, Noons on top but reversal by Thomson…
Throw down by Thomson and that means that he is on top… but no real action…Thomson now trying to throw elbows and Noons trying to do the same from the bottom….
Thomson with a right hand and needs to throw more punches… end of round two…
Referee stands them up. because the action is lacking. Noons letting go with uppercuts…Noons is cut over left eye….
Noons gets in a right hand but Thomson takes him down with about a minute to go in round.
Noons bleeding from left eye but he doesn’t seem hurt badly.
Round Three coming….
Good takedown by Thomson… choke triangle by Thomson.. it’s in deep…..
Noons gets loose for a second, but Thomson get the choke and is in control….Noons just trying to survive. He’s not fighting back….
Thomson with elbows and hammer fists. Noons is tired and in pain….
Now Thomson is in charge, delivering aggressive forearms and elbows…less than a minute to go. Thomson with ground and pound. Noons is shut down…
Noons a couple of weak punches and Thomson with a knee to close….
Waiting for the decision. Thomson should get unanimous decision….
AND HERE’S THE DECISION… THOMSON WINS AND IT’S UNANIMOUS…
It was kind of boring… Thomson tells Ranallo that his performance tonight was “shit.” Conditioning was shit and so was fight. It was a boring fight….
TATE VS. ROUSEY COMING UP!!!
Just about ready for the main event….
Both fighters are top grapplers, but Rousey lacks experience. She is very aggressive. Tate can win on the ground or if she keeps it standing….
Rousey has four wins in 138 seconds of total action….Tate wants to make Rousey “bleed her own blood….
Both of these fighters are red-hot and sexy dolls….I love these good-looking hard-asses…
Rousey seems totally confident despite lack of experience….
Tate is angry because Rousey said she could beat up Tate and Tate’s boyfriend….
Tate may hit harder than Gina Carano — another babe….
Round 1 coming up….
Look for this to be a short fight… 1 or 2 rounds….
Here we go….
Misha Tate with flurry and Rousey takes her down. RRousey has her
Tate gets loose and escapes. Rousey had her arm bar….but Tate got away…
Tate looking choke. Rousey escapes and hit her with left. Rousey looking for throw and she brings down Tte.
Rousey tosses Tate and she looks like she is stronger. Ground and pound for Rousey….
Rousey gets the arm bar and she wins the fight. She may have broken Tate’s arm….
Rousey is some angry fighter. Great strength and technique to go long with killer instinct. Tate did not want to quit and she paid a big price…..
Rousey used her hips to throw Tate a couple of times. Big night for Rousey. Experience didn’t matter because Rousey was too powerful and tough….
4;27 of first Round… Rousey is new champion… She’s all smiles now….
Paul Daley, as most of us know, is not the best fighter in the world when it comes to making weight.
