Paul Daley
Even when he was staring down Josh Koscheck, Bellator welterweight Paul Daley had his doubts whether they would ever actually fight.
Despite the Viacom-owned promotion’s efforts to build toward a showdown between the longtime rivals, six years after Daley (38-13-2 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) infamously sucker-punched Koscheck (17-10 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and was cut from the UFC, the British veteran suspected his American counterpart wouldn’t face him a second time.
In fact, Daley wondered whether Koscheck ever will fight again.
“Maybe it was a bit of an anchor, if things didn’t work out with his other business ventures, or whatever else that he’s got going on that he can fall back,” Daley, who now meets Douglas Lima (26-6 MMA, 8-2 UFC) on Saturday at Bellator 158, told MMAjunkie. “He had some security with Bellator. He still has. Maybe things have gone better than he thought they would go with whatever he set up after fighting.”
It’s no secret Koscheck lives a comfortable life after more than a decade in the industry-leading UFC. So he can’t fault the MMA veteran from stepping away – he might do the same if given the same opportunity.
“That’s why I say best of luck to him,” Daley said. “I would definitely do the same thing. I’d be driving a Ferrari.”
As of yet, Daley’s mode of transportation is a lot more modest. But as ever, his career plans are ambitious, with Lima serving as a dress rehearsal to a title shot. Although he’ll never be mistaken for Koscxeck’s advocate, Daley isn’t particularly bent out of shape about the way things turned out for the ill-fated headliner at London’s The O2, which airs on Spike via tape-delay.
“It was a slight disappointment, but I kind of got the feeling that he didn’t really want to fight,” Daley said. “I was surprised he came to the press conference. I got the feeling he was pretty much done with fighting. He seemed really on edge. He seemed to be a little scared, like genuinely scared.
“I wish him the best of luck if he doesn’t want to fight any more. You’ve got to want to fight, especially against a guy like me. You can’t do it half-heartedly.”
Lima was Bellator’s welterweight champ before losing a decision to current titleholder Andrey Koreshkov, who’s now the No. 13 ranked fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, and Daley thinks he’ll be in line for the belt if he wins on Saturday.
If the fight with Koscheck never materializes, Daley claims he’s made peace with it. That, or he’s perhaps trying a different way to motivate his rival to join him in the cage.
“I’m going to take Douglas Lima out, and the thing I’m waiting on is a title shot against Andrey Koreshkov, or whoever is the champion when my title shot comes around,” Daley said. “We’ll see if (Koscheck is) going to fight. If he fights, and he’s doing well, and they put us in line again, then yeah. I’ve never been one to turn down a fight.”
View full post on News | MMAjunkie